Crossing The Continent: A Journey Through Words with Michel Tremblay

The city of Quebec itself serves as a pivotal character in "Crossing The Continent." Tremblay's detailed descriptions offer readers a front-row seat to the city's architecture, its unique charm, and the vibrancy of its inhabitants. Through his words, Tremblay captures not only the physical landscape but also the intangible cultural heritage that makes Quebec the vibrant and captivating place it is.

The Relevance of "Crossing The Continent" Today

Despite being published over a decade ago, "Crossing The Continent" maintains its relevance in contemporary society. The themes it explores, such as identity crisis, globalization, and cultural preservation, continue to be pressing issues across the globe.

Tremblay's novel serves as a reminder that traditions and cultural heritage should not be forsaken in the pursuit of progress. It encourages readers to reflect on their own cultural identities, the impact of change on communities, and the need to find a delicate balance between preserving the past and embracing the future.

In Michel Tremblay's "Crossing The Continent," readers embark on a transformative literary journey that immerses them in the heart of Quebec's cultural landscape. With his masterful storytelling, Tremblay captures the essence of Quebecois identity, intertwining language, history, and personal struggles into a compelling narrative. This novel continues to resonate with readers from all walks of life, provoking contemplation on the importance of cultural preservation and the impact of societal changes.

Crossing the Continent

by Michel Tremblay(Kindle Edition)

4.7 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	1008 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	274 pages

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Born in Providence, Rhode Island, to a Cree mother and a French father, Réauna, affectionately known throughout Tremblay’s work as “Nana,” was sent with her two younger sisters, Béa and Alice, to be raised on her maternal grandparents’ farm in Sainte-Maria-de-Saskatchewan, a francophone Catholic enclave of two hundred souls. At the age of ten, amid swaying fields of wheat under the idyllic prairie sky of her loving foster family, Nana is suddenly told by her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in five years and who now lives in Montreal, to come “home” and help take care of her new baby brother.

So it is that Nana, with her faint recollection of the smell of the sea, embarks alone on an epic journey by train through Regina, Winnipeg, and Ottawa, on which she encounters a dizzying array of strangers and distant relatives, including Ti-Lou, the “she-wolf of Ottawa.”

To our delight, Michel Tremblay here takes his readers outside Quebec for the first time, on a quintessential North American journey – it is 1913, at a time of industry and adventure, when crossing the continent was an enterprise undertaken by so many, young and old, from myriads of cultures, unimpeded by the abstractly constructed borders and identities that have so fractured our world of today.

This, the first in Tremblay’s series of "crossings" novels, provides us with the back-story to the characters of his great Chronicles of Plateau Mont-Royal, particularly of his mother, “The Fat Woman Next Door …” and his maternal grandmother, who, though largely uneducated, was a voracious reader and introduced him to the world of reading and books, including Tintin adventure comics, mass-market novels, and The Inn of the Guardian Angel, which fascinated the young Tremblay with its sections of dramatic dialogue, inspiring the many great plays he would eventually write.