{"id":6631,"date":"2021-03-18T17:54:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T21:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.attlc-ltac.org\/?p=6631"},"modified":"2021-03-22T14:34:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T18:34:53","slug":"hie-ray-ellenwood-the-montreal-automatists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.attlc-ltac.org\/en\/hie-ray-ellenwood-the-montreal-automatists\/","title":{"rendered":"Here is Elsewhere: Ray Ellenwood on translating the Montreal Automatists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is Elsewhere<\/i> is the brainchild of Beatriz Hausner<\/a>, who conceived of it as a space for the reading, discussion, performance and promotion of world literature in translation. <\/span><\/p>\n

The group dubbed the Montreal Automatistes<\/a> were a Surrealist-influenced gang of young people interested in various artistic disciplines who began gathering around the painter Paul-\u00c9mile Borduas<\/a> in the early 1940s.\u00a0 <\/span>In what they saw as a life-and-death struggle against conservative attitudes in the political, educational and artistic institutions of the city and province, they used newspapers, public forums, and exhibitions to make their case for modernism, for non-figurative art, for spontaneous creativity in general as a liberating force.\u00a0 <\/span>On August 9, 1948, they published a manifesto entitled Refus global<\/i> <\/a>that is now seen as a unique and essential document in the history of Quebec culture, a harbinger of what would come to be called the quiet revolution.\u00a0 <\/span>The signatories of the manifesto (there were sixteen, including 7 women) were painters, writers, dancer-choreographers, theatre people, photographers and designers, many of whom are now celebrated nationally and internationally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ray Ellenwood<\/a>‘s study of the Automatist group began with translations of the poet\/playwright Claude Gauvreau<\/a> and continued with translations of the manifesto Refus global<\/i> as well as the poetry of Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Renaud<\/a> and Gilles H\u00e9nault<\/a> (who was a fellow-traveller with the group, though not a signatory of the manifesto).\u00a0 <\/span>The work on these translations led to research that would result in the first book-length study of the movement in English:\u00a0 <\/span>Egregore, A History of the Montr\u00e9al Automatist Movement <\/i>(Toronto:\u00a0 <\/span>Exile Editions, 1992 with a revised and expanded edition translated by Jean Antonin Billard<\/a> as \u00c9gr\u00e9gore, Une histoire du mouvement automatiste de Montr\u00e9al, <\/i>Montr\u00e9al:\u00a0 <\/span>K\u00e9toupa Edition, 2014).\u00a0 <\/span>Along the way, and since then, there have been numerous lectures and articles on the group and on individuals, especially the Gauvreau brothers, Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/a>, and most recently Jean Paul Riopelle<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beatriz Hausner has published several poetry collections, including Sew Him Up <\/i>(2010), Enter the Raccoon <\/i>(2012), <\/i>and Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart <\/i>(2020). Her books have been published internationally and translated into several languages, including her native Spanish, French, Dutch, and most recently Greek. As a translator she places her focus on Latin American Surrealism. Her translations of C\u00e9sar Moro, Rosamel del Valle, Jorge C\u00e1ceres, Braulio Arenas, Enrique G\u00f3mez-Correa, Olga Orozco and Aldo Pellegrini have exerted an important influence on her own writing. She lives in Toronto.<\/span><\/p>\n

This event will air live on Zoom. Please email <\/b><\/span>info@attlc-ltac.org<\/b><\/a><\/span>\u00a0to register for the link.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>