Subject: Re: OSRs (obSal?)
From: Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Date: Fri Oct 13 2000 - 13:25:53 GMT
Hey Bruce (et. al.)!
I can't tell you how good it feels to contribute something almost
substantial--even though I must admit that I started this thread myself:
>
>"Then, by early August [1940], he had moved on to Canada. On August 8, he
>mailed a postcard to Whit Burnett from Murry Bay, a charming resort in
>Quebec."
>
>Paul, should we question "charming"?
>
>--Bruce
>
I suspect that must be "Murray Bay", on La Rive Nord (the north shore) of
the St. Lawrence, a few hundred kilometres above Quebec City. It's actually
one of the classic Canadian Pacific Railway resorts that feature in so many
foreign visions of echt-CANADA. Mock French-Baronial style architectured....
Skilled Scottish masonry in pinkish pre-Cambrian granite....Copper roofing
rendered chalky green by acid rain.... Think of Banff without the
Rockies.... Think of The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, or the Chateau
Laurier in Ottawa.... Put a Mountie in front, and possibly a totem pole,
and you've got a generic picture postcard view of Canada.
I suppose that's charming.
Actually, I spent the better part of a year as a kid learning French in a
much more "real" French Canadian village not far from "Murray Bay". My town
was called La Malbaie. (Murray would refer to Gov. Gen. James Murray, first
British governor of Quebec after the 'conquest' in 1759--so you might
imagine just how popular his name is among the Quebecois....) It's a
stunningly beautiful part of the world (except for the blackflies!) called
Charlevoix. People still use the subjunctive when they speak--which hasn't
been the practice in France since Moliere's day.
It was while I was living in La Malbaie that I bought my paperback copy of
L'Attrape-Coeurs (LA-C, in case anybody cares)....
....Ne racontez jamais rien a personne. Si vous le faites, tout le monde se
met a manquer.
So I guess Jerry probably never got to Montreal?
Cheers,
Paul
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Nov 08 2000 - 17:43:40 GMT