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Marginal Enemies
Two boys grow up during World War II, Gerard in New England, Morgen in Berlin. They live parallel lives: their families experience similar changes, similar suffering. The world says they are enemies. What makes an enemy? Why are people designated as enemies? If these two later met, what would they think of each other?
WWII and the Hitler’s elimination of the undesirables alter the daily lives of both boys immeasurably. Morgen’s father, a pacifist doctor, deserts his own troops and escapes with a Viennese friend, himself a marked man. The parallel situations of the two boys and their families balance the two sides of the war. We see, not the propaganda, but the real effects the war had on civilians in both countries. We also see the ‘forgotten’ undesirables such as Gypsies, homosexuals, blacks and Japanese-Americans. Woven into all these lives is the quest for sanity and freedom from hatred.
About the author:
Norman Beaupré was born in Maine. He received a Ph.D. from Brown University and taught at the University of New England where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has traveled extensively and spent two sabbaticals in Paris. He is the author of 23 published books. He writes in English and in French. In 2008, he was awarded the medal of “Ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in Paris for his outstanding contribution to French culture.
$2.99–$10.00 -
The Little Eater of Bleeding Hearts: A Memoir
“The Little Eater of Bleeding Hearts is a testimony of a milieu and of an era that history has no right to erase.” ANTONINE MAILLET
Very rarely do Americans dare to write in French nowadays. The author, Norman Beaupré, has a special talent for doing so. He’s the one who translated his original autobiographical novel, Le Petit Mangeur de Fleurs(The Little Eater of Flowers), with a sensitivity to words as well as an exceptional authenticity in expressing his thoughts on his own growing up. One could easily say that it is the merger of the simplicity of a child with the wisdom of one who has struggled to maintain his own cultural identity as a Francophone writer. The author revealed, during one interview in France, that he found the work authentic for many reasons but especially because he had to recollect memories from long past that were, and still are, painful to him.
The Francophone population of New England laments the erosion of its language and culture. Each one struggles in his own way attempting to remain faithful to the collective identity they grew up with. Norman Beaupré, while playing with words and sometimes with bleeding hearts, dares to become, by doing so, one of the standard bearers of the ethnic group to which he belongs. This work not only touches upon memories of growing up but the very lives with which the author came into contact from as far as he can remember up to his late teens. A work of cultural richness and pride(fierté), as a reader from Dijon, France, once expressed to the author at a Salon du Livre that he attended in 2007.
About the author:
Norman Beaupré was born in Maine and is presently Professor Emeritus at the University of New England. He is the author of twenty-three publications. He writes both in French and in English. His latest novel is Lucienne, la simple d’esprit, a novel of three generations of a Québécois family. He has traveled extensively and has done much research for his works. He was decorated by the French government with the rank of Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres for his outstanding contribution to French culture.
$2.99–$10.86 -
LUCIENNE LA SIMPLE D’ESPRIT
Voilà l’histoire de trois générations québécoises qui aboutit à l’émigration aux États-Unis en Nouvelle-Angleterre. Elle est tissée d’aventures et d’événements assez frappants pour susciter l’intérêt de ceux et celles qui jouissent des effets de la passion d’amour, de l’attachement à un héritage vibrant, du défi de l’émigration, du chagrin de la mort, en plus du bouleversement d’une jeune femme hantée par ses incapacités intellectuelles et qui est connue sous la l’appellation de Lucienne, la simple d’esprit. Son histoire nous emmène au centre des filatures en Nouvelle-Angleterre où oeuvrent ces émigrés, souvent appelés les travailleurs de moulins. Cousue dans cette aventure est l’histoire de Célie et son amant algonquin, Timiskamengo, ainsi que l’histoire de Héloïse Lanouette Charbonneau, la femme qui a du “casque” et de l’entrain. Sa fille, Lucienne, découvre, malgré ses limites intellectuelles dites d’arriérage, qu’elle a des dons de la guérisseuse. Lucienne devient la femme qui, en dépit de ses challenges, se voit femme entière et mûre dans une communauté en gestation façonnée d’émigrés de la descendance des colons pur-laine telle les Lanouette de Batiscan au Québec. Plus qu’un roman, c’est une page de la réalité historique qui nous révèle les défis et les luttes, ainsi que les accomplissements et les succès d’un peuple d’émigrés qui devient à la longue les Franco-Américains.
Normand Beaupré est né dans l’État du Maine en Nouvelle-Angleterre où il grandit comme Francophone, et plus tard, devient écrivain bilingue. Il a passé plus de trente ans dans l’enseignement universitaire. Il est présentement Professeur Émérite à l’Université de la Nouvelle-Angleterre au Maine. Il a beaucoup voyage en Europe, au Mexique, et en Amérique du Sud. Il est l’auteur de vingt-deux oeuvres publiées en français et en anglais. Sa dernière oeuvre est un roman basé sur la vie artistique de Rosa Bonheur. Il fut décoré par le gouvernement de France alors qu’on lui décerna une médaille avec le rang d’Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres en 2008.
$2.99–$35.72 -
The Boy With the Blue Cap: Van Gogh in Arles
Melding the historical, the imaginary, and the fine arts, The Boy with the Blue Cap presents the story behind Van Gogh’s paintings through the narrative of a young, precocious boy, Camille Roulin, son of a postal worker. Camille develops a close relationship with the artist and pulls the reader into the story as he follows Van Gogh around Arles, exploring his world of vibrant color and artistry. When Van Gogh meets two gypsy women, events in and around Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, heat up, providing an element of intrigue. Weaving the artistic life of Van Gogh, his spiritual thoughts, and his relationship to Gauguin, into the story of a boy and his family, the novel explores the exploits and talent of this great artist. It also captures the unique flavor of Provençal life during the eighteen month period in which Van Gogh lived and painted in the Midi.
About the author
Norman Beaupré, Ph.D. was born in Maine and pursued his graduate education at Brown University. He taught over thirty years at the University of New England in Maine where he is presently Professor Emeritus. He has traveled extensively and spent two sabbaticals in Paris. He has written and published twenty-one books in English and in French. In 2008, he was awarded the medal of “Ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in Paris for his outstanding contribution to French culture.
$2.99–$34.99 -
The Day the Horses Went to the Fair: Animal Lover and Painter: Rosa Bonheur
An author always looks for an angle when writing fiction which Beaupré has done with this novel. He came up with revenants or ghosts for all of his characters as a way of weaving the story together without making it a documentary of Rosa Bonheur’s life and paintings of animals. The author has conjured the likes of a Mozart, a Cervantes and Sir Walter Scott while including other creative artists that influenced Rosa Bonheur. He has also incorporated the descriptions of the Bonheur paintings by herself, the artist, and by her close friend, Anna Klumpke. He has created what he calls a singular novel in that it is not all fiction but an amalgamation of biography, art history and some fiction to make it a creatively cohesive work. The author even intrudes into his work to give it a personal and lively touch.
Norman Beaupré, Ph.D. was born in Maine and pursued his graduate education at Brown University. He taught over thirty years at the University of New England in Maine where he is presently Professor Emeritus. He has traveled extensively and spent two sabbaticals in Paris. He has written and published twenty-one books in English and in French. In 2008, he was awarded the medal of “Ordre des Arts et Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture and Communications in Paris for his outstanding contribution to French culture.
$12.99