Le Loup Garou

            On Friday morning I almost had “A la pêche des coeurs" (Fishing for Hearts) by Boris Vian memorized. 

            I worked out the chords for the intro and most of the first verse of “Rock n Rose” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            It was less dry in the apartment during song practice and my guitar was easier to tune. 

            For lunch I had a chicken drumstick with yogourt and hot sauce. 

            I worked some more on comparing the poems Bisclavret by Marie de France and The Hunting of the Hare by Margaret Cavendish and made notes on the poetic elements that are used. 

            I handed in my Ask the Author assignment. Here are the questions I asked. I won’t post my partner's answers since he didn’t give permission: 

            Stories, Dreams and Ceremony: 

            An Interview with Cherie Dimaline on The Marrow Thieves 

            When Minerva’s grandmother bites the Rogarou and brings out the blood they become lovers and he transforms into more of a man as her Catholicism is erased (68). The Rogarou is a deterioration of the French Canadian and Acadian “rougarou" which comes from the French "loup garou" or werewolf (Native American Legends). There are hundreds of similar half human and half animal creatures in First Nations stories. Is using a story about a pre-Christian Indigenous European monster that cures one of Catholicism a way of connecting with the Indigenous history of Europe when the people were more connected to their land and the nature around them? Is it a type of wish fulfillment that Europeans would remember their own past relationship with nature in order to become better allies with the First Nations people of Canada? 

            But the Rogarou’s existence in this story depends upon colonization, as do the tropes of Catholicism that appear. On the one side some of these elements such as prayer, rosary beads, thanking “the blind Christ” and not missing “the Jesus in the heavens” are held onto by characters (68, 175, 199). This shows Indigenous people who have descended from those converted to Christianity, especially Catholicism, trying to maintain a connection with some of those teachings while at the same time engaging in the traditions of their Indigenous cultures. This however stands in conflict with other Catholic imagery that is presented in a sinister light such as black robed priests, cardinals and a pope. In view of the different aspects of Christianity that are embraced and rejected in this story, is Catholicism compatible with First Nations spirituality?

   

            Speaking of residential schools, most of them were run by the intensely ceremonial Catholic church. In the novel Miig is tells in a story that the non-Indigenous people were trying to learn from First Nations how they could “make ceremony better”(88). Ceremony in this reference is tied to dreams. Is it that Indigenous people have not lost the ability to dream because they have stayed connected to them through ceremony? Since most Indigenous people are not engaged in traditional practices this cannot be true. Is it that somehow past ceremonies created a relationship with dreams that prevails? How does ceremony relate to dreaming ability? 

            For dinner I had a potato, two chicken drumsticks and gravy while watching the last of the four episodes of the Roger Moore Ivanhoe I'd managed to download. 

            In this story a serf named Rolf escaped from his lord Sir Waldermar almost a year ago and the law states that if a serf can remain uncaptured for a full year he will be free. But Rolf returns a day before the year is up because he had heard that his mother was sick. He has been studying medicine in London and hoped to help his mother but by the time he returns she is dead. Waldermar’s men come for him and he escapes in a horse and cart with two knights pursuing. When Ivanhoe learns of Ralph’s plight he catches up with him and changes places with him in the cart, so that when the knight’s catch up and see who he is they back off. But they follow and find where Rolf is being hidden then bring the news to Waldermar. Waldermar has a knight in his service who has never been beaten. He is Sir Otto of Germany. Waldermar sends him after Ivanhoe to challenge and stop him for good. But Waldermar’s servant Vatain hears of this and goes to warn Rolf and Ivanhoe because Rolf had always been kind to her. But on the way she is gored by a wild boar and severely wounded. Rolf must save her life while Ivanhoe fights Otto is a formal joust. The start with lances, then move to maces and axes until Otto is unhorses and then they fight with swords on foot. Otto breaks Ivanhoe’s sword but he gets another and ultimately defeats the German knight. Otto yields and admires Ivanhoe. Seeing that they are now allies Waldermar and his men are about to attack them both when the bell rings marking the end of the day and therefore marking Rolf’s freedom. I would have liked to have watched the whole series but it was not as good as The Adventures of Robin Hood because the plots were much simpler. 

             This show was clearly geared more towards a younger audience since despite all the sword play no one seems to actually get fatally stabbed.