Résonance

I’d like to draw special attention to Pierre Patenaude’s remarkably evocative photographs because they bring something new to our journal: the Franco-American gaze as it contemplates what’s encountered when returning to ancestral Canada.

Also, our Creative Non-Fiction Editor Laurie Graves and Poetry Editor Jeri Thériault have shepherded unusually robust and varied offerings.

We’re very pleased to feature an interview with Ernest Hebert, one of our community’s most accomplished novelists. Hebert’s responses provide unique insights into his creative work and aesthetics. Publishing these reflections seems well-timed now that he is in his mid-eighties.

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It’s a truism that the Roman Catholic culture experienced by many Franco-Americans encourages modesty and humility. Generations of us were taught not to toot our own horns because anything achieved on earth amounted to little when compared with what occurred in the spiritual realm. I was abruptly reminded of those values recently when reading the obituary of one of our prominent novelists. Two of his books were published by well-known mainstream publishers in Manhattan. All that his obituary said about his fiction was, “He was a published author.”

A primary mission of our journal is to shine light on the work of Franco-American writers and artists. By providing more information in our contributor’s notes about their output and how they’ve been recognized, we hope to point anyone landing on our “pages” towards additional ways to engage with these creative writers and artists.

For this reason, I’d like to dedicate this issue to the memory of the talented poet Ellen LaFlèche, who passed away this past January after a long battle with breast cancer. Three of Ellen’s poems appeared in our journal’s first issue, and I reviewed her last book in our second issue. But many of LaFlèche’s best poems appeared in chapbooks (Bernice, as well as the award-winning Ovarian and Workers’ Rites) that are difficult to obtain. For that reason, I want to mention her here in the hope that her artistry will not be overlooked or forgotten.

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Finally, I once again want to thank Jacob Albert for his behind-the-scenes help with visual aspects of our journal.

—Steven Riel, Editor-in-chief

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