Tremblay: Les Belles-Soeurs

By Michel Tremblay

Book Overview

This play takes a crate of gift stamps, a Montreal kitchen, and 15 women, and mixing fast-moving dialogue, monologue and chorus, produces a critique of "women's place", Quebec society, and modern consumerism. It created uproar when first performed in 1968, being both vilified for its parochial vulgarity and praised for its revelation of the dynamic resources of popular language.

In the perspectives newly opened by the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, Michel Tremblay's depiction of the women's squabbles is a devastating critique, at once comic and bleak, of the traditional Quebec ideal of Catholic wife and mother. Killick's introduction begins by situating the realistic presentation of female subordination, under-achievement and frustration with the cultural development of modern Quebec. She then shows how it achieves added resonance as a symbol of the closed horizons of Quebec society, and more broadly, exceeding the purely Canadian context as a biting indictment of materialistic values, Finally Les Belles-Soeurs is examined as a virtuoso theatrical experiment combining traditional dialogue and the classical unities of time, space and action with the individual and group voices of cabaret and chorale. A glossary is provided for linguistic difficulties.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1853995509
• ISBN13: 9781853995507
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Once controversial, now a classic in Quebec

A play between book covers rarely measure-up to the "live happening" itself. This is particularly evident with "Les Belles Soeurs" as one must hear the vivid rhythmic lamentations recited by the sisters, in unison without expression, like a requiem for the lost hope of a meaningful life, to feel their dark despair and appreciate the innovative signature of the author. Nonetheless, while waiting for an opportunity to see the play, the written word also succeeds in conveying the forceful message. To be read in the original Quebecois slang version if at all possible.

Les Belles-Soeurs: if you understand French, read the book

I would rate the book slightly higher. Four and a half stars is closer to the actual mark I would give it, but between "perfect" (five stars) and "great" I would say the book is great (four stars). I just finished this book today in French class; each member of the class each read a different part. It is not a book I would pick for myself, but now that I have read it, I am glad it was in the itinerary. Tremblay's style of writing is keen and neat; he intersperses tragedy with comedy cleverly and without seeming to do so deliberately. He is able to make the characters sound real and each has their own manner of speaking. It seems like they are actually having a conversation that isn't scripted like a movie; the French the characters use is slangy and familiar, leaning toward the absurd at times. It is a humorous absurd though; it makes you laugh as well as think about the nuances of speech. Some people say that French books are boring; I've seen books in French that seem to have a more interesting story than this one. That is only at first glance. This story is deeper and more human, thus it is universal. I recommend this book to anyone who can read French, and I am surprised that I am the first to review this book. It is well-written and saturated with character and personality. It's a good example of what you should be looking for if you are broadening your horizons and are reading more French.