The Man Who Painted Stalin

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

The stories in this volume are quite close to realistic fiction (a genre
frequently questioned or even rejected by such writers as Nicole
Brossard, Madeleine Gagnon, and Louky Bersianik). They investigate the
mythologies of love, the “fixed expressions,” and the “almost
mechanical formula” of male-female relationships. Patiently observing
herself and others, Théoret leads her protagonists toward a better
understanding of themselves and of the choices they may have. While hope
is not one of the more evident characteristics of her fiction, she seems
to indicate a belief in progress—through feminist rebellion, through
art, through writing.

Von Flotow has provided an excellent translation of this collection. A
short introduction would have been a welcome addition, especially since
translators have, perhaps, greater insight into the texts they translate
than do some academic critics.