Poet Maude Jarry was to begin her six-month writing residency at the Plateau-Mont-Royal library in early May. Former embalmer, the author ofIf I was a motel, I would never show up (Ta mère, 2019) wanted to take the opportunity to invite users and passers-by to “conversations around death, and to revisit the links we have with it”, to feed its inspiration.
However, since the beginning of the project, difficulties have arisen because of the theme — death — chosen by the author.
“Don’t sing about death, it’s a morbid subject / The word alone throws a chill as soon as it is said”, sang Léo Ferré in 1973. And last Tuesday, in 2023, Maude Jarry announced on her Facebook page that “the head of the library [du Plateau-Mont-Royal] opposed from the start [son] project, which wanted to democratize conversations around death”.
“After weeks of interference and attempts at censorship on their part, added Mme Jarry, the managers would have decided that my subject would not fit with the borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal. (So if your goal in life is to become immortal, I strongly advise you to move to the Plateau, they seem to have some good tips for staying alive forever!)”
For the past seven years, libraries in Montreal have welcomed an author from the city for a six-month residency each year. This project is the result of a partnership between the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM) and the Union of Quebec Writers and Writers (UNEQ), in collaboration with the Montreal Library Department.
This year, “fairly quickly, the UNEQ was informed of difficulties encountered between the parties, difficulties which seemed to focus on the theme of the author’s work – death”, replied the writers’ union to the Duty. “While we can conceive that this subject is delicate and conveys its share of concerns, it seems essential to us to trust the artist selected by a jury for his experience and his ability to approach the subject with all the sensitivity required. . It’s hard to find a more universal subject. »
Death foretold and misunderstandings
In addition, “the themes, objectives and proposals of Maude Jarry were known to all since they were brilliantly expressed in her application file”, added the UNEQ. The choice of authors was made by a jury of five people, where libraries weigh heavily with three representatives, including a librarian from Plateau-Mont-Royal. The jury said it was seduced by this project “which aims to approach the theme of death with curiosity, frankness and fantasy”.
“A successful artist residency in a library depends a lot on the quality of the exchanges between the artist and the staff of the said library”, specified the UNEQ. “For three weeks, the UNEQ has been in contact with the CAM, the representatives of the library and the author to find the best solution so that everyone feels comfortable with the situation and that the artist can benefit from all the serenity essential to creation and the associated cultural mediation. »
On the side of the CAM, we affirm that we “will always defend the freedom of expression of artists and their desire to ask complex questions”. “By delving into sometimes troubling topics, art enriches discussions in our communities. In the case of this residence, we believe that the various parties involved will be able to find a solution for the benefit of all. »
The poetry of M.me Jarry in If I were a motel… is politically incorrect, and that is one of its qualities. “If there is poetry in the trashroadside motels and trash bags ripped open on the sidewalks, if death, decay and disease sometimes conceal golden clues of the passage of fairies, the poetess Maude Jarry understood this a long time ago”, said The duty in his review.
From the first pages, we read “I understood that you were / a man of confidence / when you told me that you had / already tasted your sperm”. The narrator speaks later of suicide attempts and her obsession with death and “all the subtlety of the nuance / between not wanting to live / and wishing to be dead”.
While on Tuesday morning, Maude Jarry announced the cancellation of her residency on Facebook, during the day, the libraries of the Plateau stopped to deny this cancellation without further discussing the situation. According to information obtained by The dutyone of the solutions considered by the parties so that the residency could be held without the poet having to change her words was to seek another library to host the project.
Promotion and sewn lips
“The various partners have been working for a few weeks to find a solution that will suit everyone,” explained Ms.me Jarry Tuesday at the end of the day, specifying that the residence was not finally canceled. “I trust them and at this point my priority is still to complete the residency and democratize conversations around death,” she concluded, declining to comment further.
Wednesday morning, change of tone on the side of the libraries: “ [L’équipe de la Division de la culture et des bibliothèques du Plateau-Mont-Royal] had proposed to M.me Jarry to reformulate an activity title and remove a sentence in the description to promote promotion to our users and this option was not chosen by the author. »
“We respect his refusal and our wish is to restore the communication channel quickly to carry out this creative residency. Like every time we welcome artists to our cultural facilities, we want Mme Jarry can express his art and his ideas in complete openness and freedom,” replied Geneviève Allard, communications officer.
The duty was unable to speak directly with a person in charge of the file at the Plateau-Mont-Royal or at the library.
Montreal Libraries writing residencies come with a $15,000 writing grant for the artist ($13,000 from the CAM and $2,000 from the host library.) The artistic project must be linked to a cultural mediation project with library users. This year, L’Octogone welcomes Lula Carballo and Côte-des-Neiges, Marie-Denise Douyon.
“There are not many spaces where we can reflect on our own finitude or that of our loved ones,” Maude Jarry wrote on Facebook about her idea. “With this project, I wanted to create a place where it’s never weird or heavy to approach these subjects. It seems that the heaviness was not what the poet expected.
“The ex-embalmer in me will also be able to answer all your questions about the backstage of the death industry and probably debunk a few myths along the way (juror, no one sews the lips of the deceased together!)”, she added .