News from Jean-Christophe Cloutier, Graduate Chair, Penn English, Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature, University of Pennsylvania, www.jccloutier.com
J-C Cloutier is the translator of The Unknown Kerouac: Rare, Unpublished, & Newly Translated Writings by Jack Kerouac, edited by Todd Tietchen of UMass Lowell (Library of America, 2016).
“Dear friends and colleagues,
It’s my great pleasure to announce the launch of a new French-language audiobook of Jack Kerouac’s French manuscripts: Sur le chemin et autres écrits en français. This has been a long journey that began with a dream over ten years ago when I released the (print) anthology of JK’s French texts (La vie est d’hommage [Life Is a Tribute]), and I’m glad to finally see it become a reality.
“Although Kerouac is chiefly known as an “American” author who wrote in English, his mother tongue was French and his archive revealed that he had composed several texts in French throughout his career. These texts were often written in an experimental form using what he called “sound-spelling” to capture the sound of North American French, or what we sometimes call joual québécois. It thus seemed that the true destiny of these beautiful, unique manuscripts was the audiobook.
“For this audiobook, each of the fifteen texts was assigned to a different narrator—and our narrators come from various French collectivities across the Americas: from Québec to Louisiana, Acadia to New England, Haiti to Nitassinan.
“Below you can find the book’s description, followed by an English translation of said description (for those who just don’t “do” French!).
“Please feel free to spread the word to anyone you know who may have an interest—students, colleagues, friends, roaming francophiles. Attached is a list of platforms where the book should be available around the world starting on August 17.
“Best wishes to all, et à bientôt!–JC”
[ENGLISH VERSION]
Sur le chemin et autres écrits en français [On the Road, and other French Writings]
de Jack Kerouac
French was Jack Kerouac’s mother tongue. More specifically, the variety of French spoken by the Franco-American communities of New England. Kerouac spoke this French Canuck, or joual québécois, exclusively until the age of six and continued to use it throughout his life at home with his mother, who was born Gabrielle-Ange Lévesque in St-Pacôme, in Québec, Canada. As a heritage defined by departure, migration, and the open road, Kerouac’s French-Canadian roots are inseparable from his linguistic genius and literary achievements.
The stunning secret revealed with the opening of his archives is that Kerouac had written several texts in his native tongue throughout his career. In 2016, Éditions du Boréal published these French manuscripts in an anthology titled La vie est d’hommage [Life Is a Tribute]. Readers were delighted to discover the unique nature of Kerouac’s French—a style that gave scriptural form to the vernacular of North American Francophones a full decade before the emergence of joual in Québec in the 1960s. The music, rhythm, and beats of this French are meant be heard to be truly appreciated; these manuscripts were destined to become an audiobook.
To honor the resounding diversity of the French poetic repertoire Kerouac created, we have sought fifteen narrators from across the various Francophone collectivities of the Americas—from Québec to Louisiana, Acadia to Haiti, Ontario to Nitassinan. This audiobook invites you to immerse yourself in these voices—these creolized timbres born of the territory—that come together, through Kerouac, to sing the past and future of French in the Americas.
Featuring readings by: Évelyne de la Chenelière, Herménégilde Chiasson, Jean-Christophe Cloutier (producer and director of this audiobook), Jean-Marc Dalpé, David Goudreault, Jacques L’Heureux, Robert Lalonde, Soleil Launière, Guillaume Martel LaSalle, Marie Michaud, Susan Pinette, Sébastien Ricard, Zachary Richard, Rodney Saint-Éloi, and Chloé Sainte-Marie.
Sound recording, editing, and mixing: Studio Bulldog
ISBN 13: 978-2-7646-1398-6
ISBN 10: 2-7646-1398-9
[FRENCH VERSION}
Sur le chemin et autres écrits en français
de Jack Kerouac
Le français, celui que parlait la communauté franco-américaine de Lowell, au Massachusetts, était la langue maternelle de Jack Kerouac. Cette langue, celle de ce grand peuple de « partance », de migration, de la route, qu’étaient les Canadiens français, il l’a parlée exclusivement jusqu’à l’âge de six ans et l’a employée toute sa vie, chez lui, avec sa mère, née Gabrielle-Ange Lévesque à St-Pacôme.
Ce qu’on ignorait jusqu’à l’ouverture de son fonds d’archives, c’est que Kerouac avait aussi écrit plusieurs textes dans sa langue maternelle tout au long de sa carrière d’écrivain. En 2016, les Éditions du Boréal les faisaient paraître dans le recueil intitulé La vie est d’hommage [Life Is a Tribute]. Lecteurs et lectrices ont alors pu découvrir avec ravissement la forme unique du français de Kerouac, qui a donné – dix ans avant l’éclosion du joual au Québec, au début des années 1960 – une incarnation écrite à la langue populaire des francophones d’Amérique du Nord. Il était donc tout naturel que la musique, le rythme et les modulations de ce français soient offerts à l’écoute.
Afin d’honorer la diversité retentissante du répertoire poétique francophone que Kerouac a créé, nous sommes allés chercher nos quinze narrateurs et narratrices dans la grande francophonie des Amériques – du Québec à la Louisiane, de l’Acadie à Haïti, de l’Ontario au Nitassinan. Nous vous invitons à vous laisser bercer par ces voix, ces timbres créolisés de territoire, qui font retentir le passé et l’avenir du français en Amérique.
Avec des lectures de : Évelyne de la Chenelière, Herménégilde Chiasson, Jean-Christophe Cloutier (responsable du livre audio), Jean-Marc Dalpé, David Goudreault, Jacques L’Heureux, Robert Lalonde, Soleil Launière, Guillaume Martel LaSalle, Marie Michaud, Susan Pinette, Sébastien Ricard, Zachary Richard, Rodney Saint-Éloi et Chloé Sainte-Marie.
Prise de son, montage et mixage : Studio Bulldog
ISBN 13: 978-2-7646-1398-6
ISBN 10: 2-7646-1398-9
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