Yves Beauchemin made plans for a long time before daring to immerse himself in writing a novel. This method, which led to his great successes, The Tomcat (1981) and Juliette Pomerleau (1989), however, did not last long. “There was something in this mechanism which, in my eyes, offended literature,” says the 82-year-old writer, joined by The duty at his residence in Longueuil. Anyway, even when I created a plan, I was unable to follow it. To write, you have to listen to your impulses and sweat it out! »
His twelfth novel, A stormy night, which arrives on September 26 in bookstores, was therefore born from an impulse; an image, which appeared without warning when the author was walking in a park near his home. “I saw a young man walking with difficulty on the icy sidewalks of rue Saint-Charles, in Longueuil. He loses his footing, is knocked out and seriously injured. I felt it had to be part of my book. »
This character, Philippe, finds himself at the hospital, where he meets the Dr Romain Bellerose. The emergency doctor, stunned by his young patient’s resemblance to his brother who died several years earlier, takes a liking to him. Around them unfolds a rich palette of characters – a teenage girl in love, a quarrelsome thug, a generous woman who loves chocolate, a handyman both sweet and terrifying – who help to strengthen the strange bond that unites the two men.
By the sweat of his brow
Yves Beauchemin is not joking when he says that writing requires a lot of effort and sweat. He says it half-heartedly, but this novel, for which he carried out research with an emergency doctor and wrote around ten versions, will perhaps be his last. “I no longer dare to move forward into the future. Writing takes more and more of my energy, and I don’t want to start a project that I won’t finish. »
For A stormy night, this great music lover — he has more than 11,000 records, mostly classical music — submitted his application for a scholarship offered by the Conseil des arts de Longueuil. “The jury was kind enough to award it to me. It was the necessary incentive for my writing process. I no longer had the choice to deliver the goods. I had fun, but I put a lot of work into it. Unlike writers who have great ease in composing with style the first time, I cannot claim to be such a virtuoso. »
Virtuoso or not, Yves Beauchemin is one of the most read authors in Quebec. After a first novel, The enfirouapépublished in 1974, the novelist’s career took off in 1981 with The Tomcatan international bestseller, translated into sixteen languages and sold more than a million copies.
“I had this incredible opportunity to be able to make a living from my writing. Most writers have to have another job, and that’s a good thing, because it allows you to maintain a visceral contact with life. For my part, I maintained this contact by getting involved in politics as an activist. »
A great defender of the French language and the sovereignty of Quebec, the novelist also founded the Association of Residents of Vieux-Longueuil, which fights to preserve the heritage buildings of this historic district. “I have not completely given up the fight, but I am afraid that we have neglected to ensure a replacement. »
In art as in politics, the veteran did “all he could, regretting not doing more. I really did my best to make all my books as perfect as possible in my eyes. In life, we make mistakes, we sometimes regret not having acted, but I cannot undo the past. I’m quite happy with my career.”
Memories of Goncourt
Yves Beauchemin is also happily following the journey of Quebec writer Kevin Lambert to the Goncourt Prize, having himself been a finalist in 1989, with Juliette Pomerleau (Editions de Fallois). “I was very surprised by my nomination and, obviously, I started to hope. I was both immensely vain and very nervous. »
The author remembers being surprised by the marked differences between French society and Quebec society. “The gap between social classes was still very marked, despite the French Revolution. There, it was also the journalists who led, who decided which restaurant we should invite them to to be interviewed. The Goncourt Prize was somewhat modeled on this very hierarchical mold. Despite everything, I was happy to be on the list, and I regret not having been shortlisted,” he says with a smile in his voice.
Even though he speaks of the past with a hint of nostalgia, Yves Beauchemin says he is much more interested — and concerned — about the future. “Every morning I read The duty while having lunch. Every morning my day starts with a frown. The first pages are rarely uplifting, but what can you expect, that’s the reality. I am very concerned about the future of the Quebec people and the French language, in a society where the climate emergency will have no other choice but to come to the fore. I have a one-year-old granddaughter, and when I imagine her life in twenty years, my heart aches. Today, all I have to do is cultivate hope. »