News from Édouard

Ian C. Nelson is the former Assistant Director of Libraries (Collection
Management & Budget) at the University of Saskatchewan and Dramaturge
for the Festival de la Dramaturgie des Prairies.

News from Йdouard is an English-language translation of Des nouvelles
d’Йdouard, which was published in 1984. The novel, which involves two
characters from Tremblay’s play Hosanna, tells the story of Йdouard,
a downtrodden, self-pitying shoe salesman by day and the self-styled
“Duchess of Langeais”—a transvestite star—by night. (Йdouard is
the “Duchess” of Tremblay’s The Duchess and the Commonor, 1999.)

After inheriting money from his mother, Йdouard travels to Paris where
he expects to find “real” culture. Until now Йdouard has been an
outsider, fearful of being exposed as unworthy. But in Paris, as he
takes his first steps of independence, the alternating sallies of
bravado and self-abnegation are both entertaining and achingly palpable
as he battles culture shock. Realizing that life in Paris can be just as
mundane as in Montreal, Йdouard experiences an emotional rebirth and
decides to return to Quebec. When he finally assumes his own voice, we
want to cheer: “I like putting on a show. It’s one of the things I
enjoy most, but I refuse to perform like a monkey for a bunch of drunken
Frenchmen who want a folklore fix!”

It is interesting to read News from Йdouard in tandem with
Tremblay’s play, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again (1998), in which
he pays tribute to the mother who profoundly informed his expressive
talents.