{"id":3288,"date":"2015-05-04T20:36:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T00:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memoire.mile-end.qc.ca\/?p=3288&lang=fr"},"modified":"2021-03-09T13:47:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T18:47:44","slug":"visite-historique-et-litteraire-du-mile-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memoire.mile-end.qc.ca\/en\/visite-historique-et-litteraire-du-mile-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Mile End Historical and Literary Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

We’re happy to announce that our very popular literary walking tour will be back, Sunday, June 7.<\/p>\n

Meet us at parc Lahaie, in front of the Saint-Enfant-J\u00e9sus Church, 11 am. Voluntary Contribution. Meanwhile, you can read this account of our first tour.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

A popular event<\/p>\n

On April 25, 2015, Mile End Memories organized, at the request of the Blue Met \/ M\u00e9tropolis Bleu International Literary Festival, a historical and literary walking tour of Mile End. About 60 people walked the streets of the neighbourhood to discover the sites and themes that inspired many Montreal writers, past and present.<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a>

Justin Bur and Nathalie Tremblay, two of our guides during the tour, in front of the Saint-Enfant-J\u00e9sus Church.<\/p><\/div>\n

The departure point was Lahaie Park, cradle of the Village de Saint-Louis du Mile End. After that, the walk continued along Saint-Laurent Boulevard, Canada\u2019s historic immigration corridor. Its bars and restaurants\u2014some trendy and luxurious, others infamous and seedy\u2014have inspired many authors and filmmakers.<\/p>\n

Walking along Fairmount Avenue between Saint-Laurent and Park Avenue, enabled us to present the time when the district was the heart of the Montreal Jewish life. The neighbourhood has always been \u2013 and remains today \u2013 a district of immigrants, where different cultures meet, intersect and overlap. Then, we looked at Saint-Viateur Street, the neighbourhood\u2019s social artery. Here, numerous love stories and encounters\u2014both expected and unforeseen\u2014have inspired several documentaries and fictional films.<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/a>

Joshua Wolfe, another guide, in front of Wilensky’s.<\/p><\/div>\n

Saint Michael\u2019s Church, also on Saint-Viateur, is the best known symbol of the neighbourhood. Initially an Irish parish, it now welcomes people of Polish and Italian origins, With its Byzantine Revival Style, it is another example of the hybridism of culture and languages which is the focus of the Mile End identity. Many of the caf\u00e9s of Saint-Viateur Street and Park Avenue are now the workplace of many of today\u2019s authors, both award-winning and yet-to-be-published.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>

One of the guides, Nathalie Tremblay, reads a book excerpt.<\/p><\/div>\n

The last stop was at the crossroads of Park Avenue, near Outremont, where Hassidic Jews meet Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Anglophones and Francophones, old and recent immigrants: The newly renamed Mordecai-Richler Library. Its primarily French-language book collection, housed in a former Anglican Church, now bears the name of the neighbourhood\u2019s most famous author. Here is another example of the superposing of cultures which are Mile End\u2019s secret!<\/p>\n

The 2015 edition of the Blue Metropolis Festival also created other activities in, and about, Mile End. Thanks to the Blue Metropolis Foundation, Patsy Van Roost created L\u2019Innocence des objets\/The Innocence of Objects, another way to discover the remarkable stories of your neighbours!\u00a0We would also like to mention the very popular walking tour offered by Mordecai Richler\u2019s biographer, Charles Foran, during the Festival.<\/p>\n

Bibliography for the Historical and literary tour of Mile End<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Here are the books referred to in the order they were mentioned during the tour. If only a French title is included, this is because no English translation has been published.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Robert Maltais, Le cur\u00e9 du Mile End<\/i>, Qu\u00e9bec Am\u00e9rique (2009)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pierre Flynn, Parc Lahaie<\/i>, song from the album \u201cSur la terre\u201d (2015)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mordecai Richler\u00a0: Barney\u2019s Version<\/i>, Knopf Canada (1997); Le Monde de Barney<\/i>, Albin Michel (2010); The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz<\/i>, Andre Deutsch (1959), reissued Penguin Modern Classics (2005); L\u2019apprentissage de Duddy Kravitz<\/i>, BQ (2006); St.\u00a0Urbain\u2019s Horseman<\/i>, Knopf Canada (1966), reissued McClelland & Stewart (2001); Rue Saint-Urbain<\/i>, BQ, 2001; The Street<\/i>, McClelland & Stewart (1969), reissued 2002.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Andr\u00e9e Maillet, Nouvelles montr\u00e9alaises<\/i>, Librairie Beauchemin (1966)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michel Tremblay, Des nouvelles d\u2019\u00c9douard<\/i>, Lem\u00e9ac (1984) News from\u00a0\u00c9douard, <\/i>Talon Books, 2000.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pierre-Marc Drouin, Mile End Stories, un roman<\/i>, Qu\u00e9bec-Am\u00e9rique (2011)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ted Kotcheff (r\u00e9alisateur), The Apprenticeship of Duddy K<\/i>ravitz<\/i>, film\u00a0 <\/i><\/b>(1974)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Michel Hellman, Mile End<\/i>, Pow Pow (2011)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mike Gutwillig, From the Heart<\/i>, Prize Publications (1967)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mordecai Richler, \u201cSt. Urbain Street Then and Now\u201d, in Home Sweet Home: My Canadian Album<\/i>, McClelland and Stewart (1984). A 1975 CBC television interview<\/a> demonstrates his appreciation for Mile End.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A. M. Klein, The Second Scroll<\/i>, McClelland & Stewart (1961), reissued University of Toronto Press (2001); Le second rouleau<\/i>, Bor\u00e9al (1990)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 William Weintraub, \u201cA Third Solitude\u201d, in City unique : Montreal Days and Nights in the 1940s and ’50s<\/i>, McClelland & Stewart (1996)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pascal Henrard et H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Meunier, Madame Coquelicot<\/i>, \u00c9ditions du Phoenix (2013)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sherry Simon, \u201cDiasporic Translation: Klein in Mile End\u201d, in Translating Montreal: episodes in the life of a divided city<\/i>, Sherry Simon, McGill-Queen’s University Press (2006)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lesage (director), Conte du Mile End\/A Mile End Tale<\/i>, documentaire (2013)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Maxime Giroux, Felix et Meira<\/i>, film (2015)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Malka Zipora, Lekhaim ! Chroniques de la vie hassidique \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al<\/i>, BQ (2006)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sean Michaels, Us Conductors:\u00a0 in which I seek the heart of Clara Rockmore, my one true love, finest theremin player the world will ever know<\/i>, Random House Canada, (2014)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Myriam Beaudoin, Hadassa<\/i>, Lem\u00e9ac (2006)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nicole Dickner, Nikolski<\/i>, Alto (2005); Nikolski<\/i>, Vintage Canada (2009)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don Bell, \u201cSaturday Night at the Bagel Factory\u201d, Weekend Magazine<\/i> (19 avril 1969)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Monique Proulx, Les Aurores montr\u00e9ales<\/i>, Bor\u00e9al (1996) Aurora Montrealis, Douglas & McIntyre, (1997) ; Ce qu\u2019il reste de moi<\/i>, Bor\u00e9al (2015)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Abla Farhoud, Le sourire de la petite juive<\/i>, VLB (2011)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mordecai Richler, \u201cWhy I write\u201d, Shoveling trouble, <\/i>McClelland & Stewart (1972); \u201cPourquoi j\u2019\u00e9cris\u201d, Survivre, etc, <\/i>Anatolia, 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/i>
\nOther authors and works inspired by Mile End<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

During our all too brief tour, we couldn\u2019t mention all authors whose literary works evoke or portray the neighbourhood. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n