An exceptional writer, Robert Lalonde shares his childhood memories in his new book, a period of his life which occupies great importance in his work. By fine touches, in We are from his childhood, he opens the big book of his memories and remembers the important moments that shaped his personality. It also shows all the beauties of nature and invites its readers to pay attention to the most beautiful things it has to offer them. Because it feels good.
Robert Lalonde publishes “We are from his childhood” with Éditions du Boréal.
© Editions du Boréal
Rediscover childhood
Robert Lalonde’s notebooks are always evocative, always relevant. And this time, they talk a lot about childhood. “It’s as if, at my old age, I’m rediscovering my childhood a lot. It’s curious: it’s something we don’t foresee,” he comments in an interview.
“I come back a lot to nature, to my senses, to the kind of freedom, wandering and innocence that childhood can allow. So I wanted to bear witness to that a little, by bringing my present closer to my childhood.”
Robert Lalonde feels that the man he is today is still faithful to young Robert, who grew up in Oka. “I kept that. When you have been largely introduced to nature, especially by the Mohawk community of my childhood – part of my family –, this kind of relationship with nature is established, as being a place where you enter into yourself. -even.”
“For me, it’s not so much a question of discovery or exploration: it’s a question of rediscovering a presence in the world that is not dependent on everything that surrounds us daily.”
The writer refers to the omnipresence of screens and social networks. “We can always leave social networks for a good two hours in a day and then be better off! I am speaking to you after returning from a walk which has completely taken away all the worries I had had since the morning with all kinds of business,” he adds.
“My intense life as an actor in Montreal, and everything, sometimes deprived me of it. But now, I no longer have any reason not to go.”
Robert Lalonde was surprised, when he began this book, to see how all the scenes from his childhood came back to him. “How I was, how I even enjoyed running away… All the sensations that we experience, as a child, when we are in a village where everyone is on top of each other, where there are lots of chatter, lies, slander and stuff like that. Everything I was running from, I continue to run from. I continue to stay away from that as much as possible.”
Let go of the screens
Robert Lalonde wanted to make people who read him want to go and recharge their batteries elsewhere than on social networks. “There are many people who are dropping out more and more, who have had enough of it all, who unsubscribe from all kinds of affairs because they consider that they no longer live. They are always following opinions and situations left and right.”
“I always say that by blaming – with good reason, moreover – the torment we are doing to the Earth at the moment, there is a part of us which totally forgets to enter into communication with this nature. . It’s as if we only celebrate this beautiful nature virtually, on the screens.”
Robert Lalonde observes that the senses are quickly deceived. “People are afraid to venture into the forest because they might encounter animals. They are anxious in nature while they are perfectly reassured in front of screens… It should be the opposite!”
We are from his childhood
Robert Lalonde
Editions du Boréal
232 pages
▶ In bookstores March 5.
- Robert Lalonde was born in 1947 in Oka.
- Actor and writer, he has established himself at the forefront of contemporary Quebec literature.
- He wrote novels, short stories, notebooks.
- We owe him It’s the heart that dies last, The freedom of the savannahs, Make your war, make your joy.
- He received the Athanase-David Prize in 2023 for his entire body of work, the highest distinction awarded by the Government of Quebec to a person for their remarkable contribution to Quebec literature.
“It’s only childhood that summons wonder
also carries unhappiness. The injured little boy,
who has only half healed, still slips under the
gallery, with a heavy heart. He thinks he is well hidden. He prays
so that we don’t find him. He knows that we will
find. He hears the heavy step of the man from his
life above his head. He is shaking. He is waiting. He
has nowhere to go in order to cease to exist. He
will deny once again. And it won’t be there
last.”
–Robert Lalonde, We are from his childhoodÉditions du Boréal
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• Read also: Robert Lalonde: reborn among the ashes
• Read also: “Fake your war, make your joy” by Robert Lalonde: a hymn to creation
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