October 02, 2006 -

“A poet is a seismograph who records selfquakes.”
– Roland Giguère (transl.)

Ottawa, Ontario -- The National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre’s 2006–07 series of Spectacles-midi—the popular lunchtime readings with music—will shine the spotlight on four great post-war Quebec poets associated with the period known as L’Âge de la parole (“the golden age of the spoken word”): Roland Giguère (1929–2003), Gaston Miron (1928–1996), Anne Hébert (1916–2000) and Paul-Marie Lapointe (b. 1929). Previous series have featured the work of Victor Hugo, the correspondence of famous women writers, poetry by Arthur Rimbaud, and a bestiary of literary selections about animals.
In the wake of the Second World War and, even more intensely, the Quiet Revolution of 1960, poetry in Quebec blossomed with unheard-of (literally) vitality. The new idiom emphasized the shape and sound of language itself and conveyed rich, unfettered imagery. The influence of the post-war generation of poets endures to this day, both in the language of contemporary poetry and in the way Quebec perceives itself and its place in the world.
Ushering in the NAC’s Quebec Scene regional festival (coming up in April 2007), the 2006–07 series of Spectacles-midi begins October 10 and 11 with a reading of poems by Roland Giguère, most of them selected from his anthologies L’Âge de la parole and Forêt vierge folle. The reading will be complemented by transcriptions for piano and cello of works by Franz Schubert (1797–1828). Directed by Claire Faubert, this first reading will feature actor Pierre Simpson, accompanied by Jean Desmarais on piano and Paul Marleyn on cello.

Roland Giguère, poet and painter (May 1929–August 2003)

Born in Montreal on May 4, 1929, Roland Giguère claimed his real “birth” occurred when he was about 17 and discovered the works of French poet Paul Éluard. Giguère studied typesetting, lithography and printmaking at the École des arts graphiques de Montréal. In 1949 he founded Les Éditions Erta, which specialized in beautiful books combining text and images. He published his first poems that same year. From 1954 to 1963 he lived in Paris, where, besides pursuing his studies at the École Estienne and the Atelier Friedlaender, he was active in the Phases group (devoted to poetry and avant-garde art) and the surrealist movement—it was here that he met André Breton. He also contributed to several periodicals, including Edda (Brussels), Odradek (Liège), La Barre du jour, Possibles, Liberté (Montreal), and Estuaire (Quebec City). From 1970 to 1975 he taught a design research workshop at Laval University, and served as vice president of the Association des graveurs du Québec. Roland Giguère’s paintings and etchings have been widely exhibited in Canada and abroad.

The release in 1965 of L’Âge de la parole (1949–1960), an anthology of Giguère’s poems, was a landmark in Quebec literary history, a coherent reflection of the social undercurrents and effervescence that characterized the period. The book earned Giguère the 1966 Prix France-Canada, the Prix de poésie des Concours littéraires du Québec, and the Grand Prix littéraire de la Ville de Montréal. In 1974, he won but refused the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry (for La Main au feu). Other honours include the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas (Prix du Québec, 1982) for lifetime achievement in visual art; the Médaille de l’Académie des lettres du Québec (1995); and the 1999 Prix Athanase-David (Prix du Québec) for poetry, making him the only Quebec artist besides Fernand Dumont to receive two Prix du Québec in two different disciplines.
On August 27, 2003 in Montreal, at a “cérémonie de la parole” in memory of Roland Giguère (who had died 10 days earlier), Jean Royer, then president of the Académie des lettres du Québec, recalled the power of the “poet of the interior landscape”: “Giguère’s poetry is inhabited by powerful images, like metaphor become life itself…or like life become that dreamed-of habitable world. Giguère’s poetry is the poetry of the words, notes and sketches of Forêt vierge folle, that unique and masterful work infused with the spirit of surrealism, which for him expressed a sense of defiance—‘to stir up our subconscious, our instincts, our dreams.’”

L’Âge de la parole: Roland Giguère
Poems by Roland Giguère / Read by Pierre Simpson
Directed by Claire Faubert / Music by Franz Schubert
Piano and music selection: Jean Desmarais
Cello: Paul Marleyn
Artistic coordination: Paul Lefebvre
Stage management: Dalelle Mensour
Presented by the National Arts Centre French Theatre in association with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Fourth Stage

Tuesday, October 10 and Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Noon to 1 p.m. in the NAC Fourth Stage
(53 Elgin Street, Ottawa)

Series subscription (4 readings): Regular $54, Student $32
Available at the NAC Subscription Office
Single tickets: Regular $16, Student $8
Available in person at the NAC Box Office or through Ticketmaster, 613-755­1111 / www.ticketmaster.ca or the NAC website, www.nac-cna.ca.

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For more information, please contact:
Guy Warin, Communications & Media Relations Officer
French Theatre – Canada’s National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca