Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Judit Molnár: Search for Identity in the English-language Writing of Allophone Quebecers

In the following I will briefly illustrate the other types of hints Raymond Filip uses in establishing a strong political sense in his fiction. The traces left behind by the FLQ gain special importance since they appear side by side with the swastikas ('ChantaT 82). The significance of the concrete historical moment is obvious in 'The Best Ice of Québec': Now it was the spring of

1977. The first separatist government in the history of Québec had been elected that fall. And there was talk of greater Depression on English and French tongues. (103—104) (emphasis added) Raymond Filip's adroit handling of language(s) is noticeable when he slips in phrases with concrete political meanings for no apparent reason into everyday conversations and this way produces a special kind of new language blend. The description of the problems of a couple's splitting in 'Chantal' resembles the possibile solutions that have long been discussed for resolving a similar situation between Canada and Québec: separation or sovereignty association. After the couple split, Chantal was left on the lawn, literally. No quality home to call home, no quality friend to call friend, Alain suggested his parents' duplex for accomodation. But that wasn't separation, that wasn't sovereignty association! ('Chantal' 92) (emphasis added) The often heard Québecois slogan from the sixties maitres chez nous ("masters in our home") is also given a funny and ironic twist when it is used by a Québécoise woman enjoying an evening together with an Anglophone man in a dilapidated building for homeless people in Montréal CChantal' 94). PQ (Parti Québécois) stands for "Pack Quick" in "The Best of Quebec' (111) alluding to the massive exodus of the Anglophones from Québec after the party came into power. Tensions of different kinds in the society of Québec together with cultural alienation is present in the stories, however, attempts to ease cross101