The Black Notebook

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

The Black Notebook is the first volume of a new trilogy by Michel
Tremblay. It is, above all, a novel about otherness. The protagonist,
Céline Poulin, is a midget who works as a waitress and prefers night
shifts because she empathizes with the “creatures of the night.” The
daytime crowd, by contrast, is too polite, too uptight, except for the
ones who come from the local art and theatre school. Invited to audition
for a part in Euripides’ Trojan Women, Céline becomes interested in
the theatre while continuing to insist that acting is “not her
thing.”

Her “thing” is writing. Through writing, she is able to satisfy her
“need to untangle the thoughts that are bumping against each other
inside [her].” Deep thoughts about human nature come to her as she
watches two drag queens fighting over a lipstick. Will she ever publish
or will she “die an old maid in a room crammed to the ceiling with
pathetic writing that’s totally useless”? The reader suspects that
Céline will become a “real” writer, but the ending of The Black
Notebook does not confirm it.

With his trademark compassion, wit, and eloquence, the author excels at
presenting marginal characters of all kinds. Sheila Fischman, who
translated the six novels in Tremblay’s semi-autobiographical
chronicles of his Plateau Mont-Royal series, has once again done justice
to his portrayal of those who “paddle around” in waters unknown.