 Robert Barsky's Vanderbilt Site
Journal Work
Research Laboratory
 Maymester in Montreal, May of 2008
English 288, Laughter and the Academic Novel
The Public Intellectual
FR380 French Literary Theory
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Photo of Leonard Cohen
Maymester in Montreal, spring 2008
ENG272 “From ‘Criminal’ Montreal to Social Justice: Law, Literature, Dance and Music in America’s ‘Paradise’”
Monday 3:00-6PM; Tuesday-Friday, 10-1PM, May 8-25, 2008
Professor Robert Barsky
Office: Furman Hall 227
Phone: 322-2652
robert.barsky@vanderbilt.edu
Throughout this century, Montréal has also been variously described as a “paradise,” a “den of iniquity,” or a “city of ill-repute” which was run by local mafias and criminals. This is the city where jazz exploded due to the unlikely combination of railway porters and prohibition in the United States, leading Montréal to become the very seat of jazz for a period in the 1930s and 40s (and every summer it plays host to the world’s largest jazz festival). Alongside the jazz came an appetite for late nights, good food, and a general hedonism that inevitably came up against the heavy conservatism of the Quebec Church. It’s not surprising, therefore, that Montreal was the site of a “quiet revolution” in the 1960s, inspired by the artwork of Borduas and signatories of the “Global Refusal,” a manifesto of modern art, as well as a more vocal upheaval by the “Liberation Front of Quebec in the 1960s and 70s. From this perspective it is also not surprising that Montreal has become a key international center for work in Social Justice.
Today, Montréal is a place of avant-garde art, notably in dance and performance arts, and it is a place in which experimental film, visual arts and creative work emanate from a whole range of sectors and cartiers. It’s home to Rufus and Martha Wainright, to La La La Human Steps, to Oxygène, the Cirque de Soleil, and a remarkable Anglophone and Francophone mixture of cultures, traditions and histories. Montréal is another “America” which combines historical populations of Jews and Catholics with emerging communities from around the world in a “multicultural” framework, which contributes to the government and local imperative of promulgating work in social justice.
It’s no wonder why Montreal is such a cosmopolitan place, with people like Pierre Elliot Trudeau or Leonard Cohen as its "ambassadors" on the internatinal scene. We will visit the haunts and communities of these remarkable individuals, and how their work emerged from a small group of students and friends will be traced in the streets, archives and oral histories of people who know him. So too with Mordecai Richler, whose work defined the cosmopolitanism of Montréal and has become a mainstay of contemporary American fiction. Richler’s notorious bashing of the “indépendantistes” and his descriptions of relations between Catholics and Jews are living texts, particularly in the area of the city described so vividly in the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Solomon Gursky Was Here, or Trevanian’s The Main. We shall look at these and other texts by Montréal writers, and situate them within the fascinating context of this vibrant crossroads between Europe, Canada and the United States.
With texts in hand, for continued consultation, Professor Barsky will in the third week bring students in this course to live in downtown Montreal, where they will be introduced to a unique bilingual multicultural setting. We will begin with tours of “Jewish Montreal”, from “The Main” to the old Jewish Ghetto around McGill. This will be complemented to visits to the key Catholic institutions in the city, including the St. Joseph’s Oratory, the Notre Dame Church, and key historical sites in “Old Montreal.” Students will further enhance their understanding of Quebec and Canadian society through visits to the cities many museums, cultural centers, sports venues (including the Olympic site and the hockey arenas, notably the Montreal Forum) and monuments, allowing them to have a privileged look at a city which once dominated the entire Eastern seaboard of North America all the way down to Louisiana.
Course requirements:
Keep a journal of activities and thoughts about what is seen and learned about Montreal prior to and during the trip.
One oral presentation based upon the journal.
Monday May 12th: 3:00-6:00
Subject: French-English Relations
Texts: History of Quebec timeline
in English: http://www.quebec400.qc.ca/en/hist_chronologie.asp; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Quebec
in French: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alain.perron/quebechistoire.htm
Poetry: “Speak White”
Film: excerpts from "Jesus of Montreal"
Specific subjects to follow up on today's discussion:
Furs and trapping:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/index.html, on the history of the Hudson Bay Corporation.
Native Americans
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/mainmenu.html on the history of Native Americans
Canadian History
http://www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/cghl/history.html
Tuesday May 13th: 10-1
International Law and Multicultural Montreal
Texts: Africans in Quebec and Canada, http://www.qesnrecit.qc.ca/mpages/index.html
Text: Canada, Government Publications. House of Commons. An Act for the Preservation and Enhancement of Multiculturalism in Canada.
Film and Text: Dany Laferrière, Comment faire l’amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer (text and film with English subtitles).
Text: Immigration and Refugee Act, online at: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/I-2.5/64755.html
International Law in Montreal
Text: Zachary Baker, “Montreal of Yesterday” A Snapshot of Jewish Life in Montreal During the Era of Mass Immigration.” An Everyday Miracle: Yiddish Culture in Montreal, ed. Robinson, Ira, Pierre Anctil and Mervin Butovsky. Montreal, Canada: Véhicule Press, 1990, 39-52.
Film and text: “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz”.
Roman Catholicism and Montreal
Text: Elaine Kalman Naves, “Keeping the Flame Alight: Montreal As Home to Two Literary Starts,” Putting Down Roots: Montreal’s Immigrant Writers (Montreal: Vehicule Press, 1998), 50-71.
Thursday May 15th: 10-1
Revolutionary and Criminal Montreal
The October revolution, the Quiet Revolution, the FLQ and the PQ; Jazz and criminality.
Film: October
Text: Swinging in Paradise
Friday May 16th: 10-1
Hockey in Montreal and in Tennessee
Elvis in Tennessee and in Montreal
films: "Elvis Gratton" and "The Rocket"
BNA-YUL
Sunday 18 May 2008Air
Delta Air Lines Inc - Flight DL 5664Status:Confirmed
OPERATED BY COMAIR
Depart:Nashville Metropolitan AirportAirline Ref:PQZ86Q
Nashville, TN, USSeat:06A
7:30 AMClass:Q-Economy/Coach
Mileage:230
Arrive:Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky AirportTravel Time:1:21
Cincinnati, OH, USStopovers:0
9:51 AMAircraft:Canadair Regional Jet
Terminal 3Meal:
Remarks:
Sunday 18 May 2008Air
Delta Air Lines Inc - Flight DL 5326Status:Confirmed
OPERATED BY COMAIR
Depart:Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky AirportAirline Ref:PQZ86Q
Cincinnati, OH, USSeat:11A
10:55 AMClass:Q-Economy/Coach
Terminal 3Mileage:712
Arrive:Trudeau Intl AirportTravel Time:2:08
Montreal, QC, CAStopovers:0
1:03 PMAircraft:Canadair Regional Jet
Sunday, May 18th, Montreal!
Residence Inn Montreal Westmount >> 2170 Lincoln Ave.Montreal, H3H 2N5 514-935-9224; Fax: 1-514-935-5049
Activities:
In order to completely immerse students in Quebec culture, we will attend (roughly) 2 plays, 2 dance spectacles, two theatre productions, and several (outdoor and indoor) cultural events, in addition to the central "sites" such as the Olympic Stadium, the Botanical Gardens, the museums, the old port, and so forth.
There's a good website with history and links at: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alain.perron/Pagebanniere.htm
Monday, May 23rd:
9:00 AM Meeting with Julius Grey!
11:00 AM The "class" and "language" promenade: from Westmount to Hochelaga.
The class will embark upon a many-mile walk from Westmount, down Ste Catherine Street, from English to French Montreal. Along the way, discussions of "class"and its relationship to language, with stops in the fur district of Montreal, at the Place des Arts, through the cartier latin and to the Université du Québec, with stops in the Literary Studies Department, the Cinema area, and a tour of this unusual campus.
L'UQAM en quelques chiffres
» un budget de fonctionnement de l'ordre de 298 millions $ en 2004-2005
» 41 238 étudiants à l'automne 2005
(sans compter les 15 441 étudiants inscrits à la TÉLUQ en 2004-2005)
- 33 848 au premier cycle
- 5 099 au deuxième cycle
- 1 497 au troisième cycle
- 794 autres (étudiants en bachotage, stagiaires post-doctoraux, auditeurs, etc.)
» Diplômes décernés (au 31 décembre 2005)
- 1er cycle : 189 156
- 2e cycle : 20 888
- 3e cycle : 1 346
- TOTAL : 211 390
» 161 333 diplômés (au 31 décembre 2005)
» 980 professeurs
» 19 maîtres de langues
» 1 786 chargés de cours
» 117 cadres
» 2 134 employés de soutien
» Facultés et École :
» 35 départements
» l'École supérieure de mode de Montréal
(en partenariat avec le Groupe Collège LaSalle)
» plus de 180 programmes de premier cycle
From there, a continued trip through Hochelaga, some "cartiers populaires," and towards the Olympic facilities:
The park opened for baseball on April 15, 1977, with the Philadelphia Phillies beating the Montreal Expos 7–2. The Expos played their home games at the stadium from then on, except for 13 games played on the road in 1991 and 22 home games played at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico in each of the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Their final home game was a 9–1 loss against the Florida Marlins on September 29, 2004. At the time, it was "hailed" as the worst active venue in Major League Baseball, tied for that "honour" with the Minnesota Twins' Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Nicknamed "The Big O", the stadium was designed to be a very elaborate facility and was to feature a retractable roof, which was to be retracted by a huge 556 foot (approx. 169 1/2 metres) tower — the tallest inclined structure in the world, a foot taller than the Washington Monument, and the sixth tallest building in Montreal. The Olympic swimming pool is located under this tower. Designed by Paris architect Roger Taillibert, the park was very expensive, with the total cost of the stadium being over C$1 billion. The city of Montreal will only have completely paid off this debt by 2006. Due to its extremely high cost, the stadium has also been dubbed The Big Owe. The then-mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, is remembered for saying, in a speech announcing that Montreal would host the games, "The Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby." This now-famous quote is often parodied by residents.Problems plagued the stadium from the time it opened for the Olympic Games. The 58,500-seat stadium was not fully completed in time for the games due to strikes by construction workers, leaving it without a roof and only a small portion of the tower built for a number of years. Both the tower and the roof, made of over 60,000 feet (approximately 18,500 meters) of kevlar, were not completed for over a decade, and it was not until 1988 that it was possible to retract the roof. The 65-ton roof then proved difficult to retract, and was occasionally torn in heavy winds.
The roof is only 52 metres (171 ft) above the field of play. As a result, a number of pop-ups and long home runs hit the roof since play began, necessitating the painting of orange lines on the roof to separate foul balls from fair balls.
Olympic Stadium was remodeled in 1991, with 12,000 seats being removed for Expos games. On September 8 of that year, support beams snapped and caused a 55 ton concrete slab to fall on to an interior walkway. No one was injured, but the Expos had to play their final 13 home games on the road. The following season in 1992, the retractable roof concept was abandoned in favour of a new permanent cover roof. This fixed roof was removed (for repairs) in May of 1998, turning the park into an outdoor stadium for the season. In January 1999, a 350 square metre portion of the roof collapsed, dumping ice and snow on workers that were setting up for the annual Montreal Auto Show. This led to the auto show leaving the Olympic stadium for good. Yet again a new permanent roof was installed for the 1999 season and has remained on the park since, however even this roof has proven less than reliable, as structural breaches have occurred during the winter months (due to snow and ice accumulation). A fourth replacement roof is being considered as of March 2006. In addition to the Expos, the park was home to the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes for a number of years, but they now use the Percival Molson Stadium of McGill University. The stadium is, however, still used for the team's last regular season game and for all playoff games. The stadium was also the home of the Montreal Manic2005, the FieldTurf surface was sold for $1 million (Canadian) to the BC Place domed stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is being used by the CFL B.C. Lions. soccer team from 1981 - 1983. A 1981 playoff game against the Chicago Sting attracted a crowed of over 58,000. The stadium also has various other multipurpose uses: indoor exhibitions, monster truck shows, and so forth (excluding winter months, due to safety issues with the current roof in place). The stadium is directly connected to the Pie-IX metro station on the Green Line of the Montreal Metro.
Tuesday May 20th:
Noon: Meeting with Daniel Chartier, Founder and Director of the Institute for the Study of the North, University of Quebec.
Nordic | Imaginary
International Laboratory for the Comparative Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North
The Laboratory
The Laboratoire international d’étude multidisciplinaire comparée des représentations du Nord [International Laboratory for the Comparative Multidisciplinary Study of Representations of the North] at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) is a centre for research, documentation and expertise on the Nordic imaginary in literature, film, the visual arts and popular culture. It is intended primarily to encourage comparison between the different Nordic cultures as exemplified by Québec, the Inuit community, Scandinavia (Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden) and Finland.
Since it was set up in 2003, the Laboratory has brought together some 15 researchers from about 10 universities (in Québec, Sweden, Denmark, France, Israel, Canada, Germany, England, Lapland and Spain) who have used the infrastructure developed at UQAM to study the Nordic imaginary. Their efforts have been devoted to a comparison of Québec culture (literature, film and the visual arts) with that of other Nordic peoples (Inuit, Scandinavian and Finnish) and to an analysis of works from both the popular and high cultures of all countries involved in representation of the North. The Laboratory was founded by Daniel Chartier and is directed by him.
Tuesday Evening, 9PM:
On the Spot Improv
omedyworks, 1238 Bishop, Mtl
Info. (514) 398-9661; Category : Improv - English Comedy
Wednesday, May 23rd:
Marc and Brigitte Trudel, the airplane construction business in Quebec!
Epic walk from Westmount to Outremont: the "other side of the mountain"
Tour of McGillUniversity. With Mount Royal as a backdrop, McGill's main campus is set in the heart of downtown Montreal, one of the most exciting cities in North America, with three million residents and four universities. Its mix of cultures and languages makes it a dynamic place: museums, restaurants, skyscrapers, nightclubs and beautiful public parks make Montreal a great city in which to live. The campus is a mosaic of historic and modern buildings. Thanks to bequests over the years from generous donors, the downtown campus is an oasis of green and beauty in the centre of a safe, sophisticated and uniquely bilingual city. A short drive west of downtown, McGill's Macdonald Campus sits on the shores of Lac St-Louis. This mix of academic buildings, research laboratories and student and staff housing is home to the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In 1813, James McGill, a Scottish immigrant who prospered in Montreal, bequeathed his 46-acre estate and 10,000 pounds to "the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning." McGillCollege (now McGillUniversity) was inaugurated in 1829 in Burnside Place, James McGill's country home. In 1843, the University constructed its first buildings, the central and east wings of the ArtsBuilding. The first women students were admitted in 1884.
Wednesday evening, May 21st, supper in Chinatown at Nikai Restaurant, authentic Szechuan food, with Paul John, and Ying Su.
Paul John is a former professor involved in the integration of migrants into Quebec society at the Cégep St. Laurent, and Ying is an immigrant into Quebec. They discussed the work they are doing, and have done, in these areas; a description of Paul John's program follows (in French):
Thursday, May 22nd
10AM-1PM: Denise Otis, the Immigration and Refugee Board
SPECTACLE DES FINISSANTS DE LADMMI - LADMMI
Du 22/05/2008 au 24/05/2008 - Montréal
L’école de danse contemporaine vous convie à Danses de mai – LADMMI Opus 2008, le spectacle de fin d’études de ses étudiants-interprètes de 3e année.
Au programme, des créations de Dominique Porte, Serge Bennathan, Alain Francoeur et Tedd Robinson — des œuvres inspirées d’une idée originale du concepteur de costumes Louis Hudon — le tout en collaboration avec le Conservatoire de musique de Montréal et Stéphane Ménigot, fidèle concepteur des éclairages.
20 h - Maison de la culture Frontenac (2550, rue Ontario Est)
514 872-7882
Friday, May 24th
10:30-2: Jardin Courvert and Refugee Actions meeting at 4039 Tupper (10-11). YMCA Jardin Couvert presentation. The presentation would last around two hours (or more, depending on questions your students might have and the length of the discussion). Broadly, Tania ghanem and other current staff of the Jardin Couvert will show the place and explain the work they are doing (integration and welcoming of asylum seekers, intercultural workshops...) as well as inevitably tackling the faith of asylum seekers arriving in Canada in general. Sophie Dorais will complete the discussion that evening, when she will speak about Action Refugiés and the work they are doing with asylum seekers in detention, followed by a presentation by an actual refugee on his own experience as an asylum seeker just arriving in Montreal.
Friday afternoon: MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
From the Art Association of Montreal to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
In 1860, Montreal was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic centre of Canada. Yet, although its artistic traditions dated back to the period of French rule, the city had no art school or museum. The aim of the Art Association of Montreal, as defined by its founding president Bishop Francis Fulford in 1860, was to fill these gaps by organizing exhibitions, establishing a library and offering art and design classes.
Friday early evening: Sophie Dorai, http://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/ameriquests/viewarticle.php?id=69&layout=html
Sophie Dorais Mc Gill University
B.C.L.-L.L.B. McGill University, Montreal, Canada, graduation in summer 2006
M.A. Political Science, McGill University, 2003
B.A. Political Science, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, 2001
Legal experience with refugee claimants and with individuals detained on immigration grounds in Canada (Montréal)
Friday evening, May 23rd:
Forever Your, Marie-Lou To May 25 The English premiere of one of Michel Tremblay's classics translated by John Van Burek & Bill Glassco. Directed by Sarah Garton Stanley. Tue-Sat 8pm, Sun May 11, 7pm, Matinees: Sat-Sun 2pm, Wednesday May 7, 14, 21 1pm. Centaur Theatre 53 St-Francois Xavier. (514) 288-3161
Saturday morning, May 24th
Architecture Museum:
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The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) was founded in 1979 as a new form of cultural institution to build public awareness of the role of architecture in society, promote scholarly research in the field, and stimulate innovation in design practice.
The CCA is an international research centre and museum founded on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive collections, the CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on the art of architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society today.
Over 30 years ago, architect Phyllis Lambert began the collection that would become the cornerstone of the CCA. In addition to being founding director of the institution, Phyllis Lambert is Chair of its Board of Trustees. Collections
Today the CCA Collection, comprising works dating from the Renaissance to the present day, documents the culture of architecture throughout the world – past, present, and future. It provides evidence in depth of cultural and intellectual circles of the past, points to the future of architectural thinking and practice, and reveals the changing character of thought and observation pertaining to architecture. Unparalleled in scope, the Prints & Drawings, Photographs, Archives, and Library comprise of dynamically interrelated bodies of primary and secondary materials that advance thinking about the nature of the built domain and the ideas that underlie it. Exhibitions and Public and Educational Programs forge links between architectural thinking and practice, the history of ideas, and changing social and cultural conditions. Programs are both local and international in scope. They interpret architectural ideas to the wider public at all age-levels as well as to architects and scholars, aiming to reveal the richness of architectural and urban culture and to stimulate dynamic engagement with contemporary issues and debates. The CCA Bookstore specializes in the literature of architecture and an extensive range of interrelated topics, offering a selection of publications from around the world.
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Saturday afternoon
Old Montréal!
Morning: Tour of Old Montreal and Visit to Notre Dame Basilica. Notre-Dame's twin towers have served as an Old Montreal landmark since the neo-Gothic basilica was finished in 1829. Today they continue to be the focal point, where tourists disgorge from buses and calèche drivers line up for passengers. The interior glows with gilded statuary and gold-leafed fleurs de lys, and is home to one of the largest pipe organs in the world. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra performs its Christmas production of Messiah here.
Botanical Gardens
 Patro Le Prévost
7355 Christophe-Colomb Blvd, Mtl; Info. (514) 273-8535
From : Khadija Jabiry With : Tywalline, El Sayed
Where are all the gardens?
How many greenhouses are there to explore?
Looking for a special place to visit...
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Suggestions for virtual visits
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Panoramic Views & QuickTimeVR Views 
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Point au Callière Museum of archaeology:
Multimedia show
A breathtaking trip through time. The history of Montréal unfolds before your eyes in this unique theatre overlooking the architectural and archaeological remains, all in the space of 18 minutes.
Where Montréal Was Born introduces visitors to the history and archaeology of the site. They'll see the first Catholic cemetery, the canalized river that became the William collector sewer and the town's first public square. These three sites, keystones in our city's growth, are all part of the Museum.
 More details
Living in Montréal, the largest Francophone city in the Americas, means rubbing shoulders with a host of interlaced cultures, savouring tastes from around the world, hearing the music of different tongues and taking your bearings from a multitude of church steeples. It means sharing a corner of the Earth where it seems that all of humanity has decided to come together.
More details
Saturday evening May 24
LES ERRANCES DE L’ÉCHO: EXPOSITION
SONIC WIRE SCULPTOR: EXPOSITION
Agora du Cœur des sciences
12:30: Créer aujourd’hui - Partager son espace intime de creation, RENCONTRE Agora du Cœur des sciences – UQAM
8PM: IS YOU ME DANSE
Par B.L.eux Montréal, Usine C
Sunday May 25
Optional brunch at the Ritz Carlton Hotel garden! 9:00AM
departure
Sunday 25 May 2008Air
Delta Air Lines Inc - Flight DL 4449Status:Confirmed
OPERATED BY ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST AIRLINES
Depart:Trudeau Intl AirportAirline Ref:PQZ86Q
Montreal, QC, CASeat:17A
1:01 PMClass:U-Economy/Coach
Mileage:997
Arrive:Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International AirportTravel Time:2:44
Atlanta, GA, USStopovers:0
3:45 PMAircraft:CR7
Terminal SMeal:
Remarks:
Sunday 25 May 2008Air
Delta Air Lines Inc - Flight DL 1446Status:Confirmed
Depart:Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International AirportAirline Ref:PQZ86Q
Atlanta, GA, USSeat:31E
5:30 PMClass:U-Economy/Coach
Terminal SMileage:215
Arrive:Nashville Metropolitan AirportTravel Time:1:16
Nashville, TN, USStopovers:0
5:46 PMAircraft:McDonnell Douglas MD-80 All Series
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For more information, please contact Robert F. Barsky.
copyright Robert F. Barsky, 2006
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