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Golf on the Plains of Abraham

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copyrights2004 J.C.Rodrigues

 

(In a letter to a friend)

 

I keep busy here in Quebec city and my writings on my "Golf on the Plains of Abraham" are going fine. I will need to stay here an additional 9 months, not only because the research on Québec culture is voluminous, but because, for the first time in my life, I feel trapped by the surroundings and its beauty.

 

For the first time in my life I will write something a little more abstract and very, very interesting.

 

I have created three tempo story: the magical dove of peace from Noah's arc, who is still around with eternal life and registering history, is my narrator and also a second voice in Charles head (the bird entered into Charles head but gets trapped because Charles the writer only writes in the night and sleeps all day).

 

Charles is a troubled person in terms of social integration and an Englishmen living intra-muros, between two cultures- in Quebec who starts from tabua raza -nothing- to learn about Québec history and culture.

 

He meets Lys, French Quebecoise who is doing a masters degree in visual arts and a thesis in the art of dancing and its cultural implications. Together they partner up to help each other.

 

Charles, however, writes journals at night of everything he learns into a story; a small romance about golf and history. In his journals the main character is Nathalie, a history professor at Laval and Carlos, Roberto, Vittorio at a much older age. Yes I aged my three characters from my other books to be 55 years old and have passed a happy. The journal story is a day of golf at the Royal for the foursome that ends in a surprise party for Vittorio. Nathalie is going to come to the surprise party together with Carlos, Vittorio, Roberto, Maria, Vicenza, and Aline (all the characters from my previous romances). After dinner Nathalie is going to play the violin and Aline the Piano. The emigrants are going to dance to Quebec tunes...

 

By the time Charles is done his journal of ten chapters, a week has gone by, he has fallen in love with Lys, visited her parents and learned much about Québec culture and arts, food and traditions not to mention allot of history. At this time he finally lives the day and the magical bird has the choice to leave his head (the magical bird can only enter and leave during the day, thats why he has been trapped for a week, Charles sleeps all day and only goes out at night and writes all the rest of the night).

 

At this moment when Charles begins to feel more socially integrated, more a Quebecois, more free and in love, the bird is allowed to be free as well...

 

The ending will be a correlation between the comet Halley, Quebec history, the hardship of partnership (like the bird and Charles) and a projection to the future passage of the comet in 2062

 

In the story it will have many analogies that are very interesting: at one point the bird will narrate his experience in Charles de Gauls head when he said "vive le Québec livre", also in Parizeau's head when he said "we lost the referendum due to money and the ethnic vote".

 

My favourite passage is without a doubt the analogy of the six Muses, a monument that exists at the gates of St. Jean in Old Quebec. Originally they are supposed to be three, better know as nine and with Voltaire a tenth one: Critical spirit.

 

I will ask the six Muses and make an analogy about the ones that are missing and the history of Québec.

 

My numbers for this story are 8, 9, 33: infinity and many dates of Québec history fall with 8, 9 for the Muses, the planets and astrology, 33 for the fathers of confederation and the surviving children of hunger in Montréal 33 of 729. Also 3, 6, 76; The missing Muses, the six brothers who first conquered Québec, 76 years for the comet to return to earth, 1986-2062, and collect all the bad spirits of wars and money (resulting from all our history of slavery, society destructions: the Incas, the Natives Nations the Aztéques and all brothers and sisters in Americas colonisation).

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