Literature Discussion Group: May 27th: Papa Martel

09 May 2014

May 27th: Papa Martel

"The survival of any culture depends

in great part on the stories its members tell."

I found this quote in an article developed by Kathleen M. Ashley of the University of Maine for the Maine Humanities Council. The article, Making a Life, Shaping an Identity: Ethnic Americans in Maine, addresses the fact that while we tend to view New Englanders, and Mainers in particular, as a somewhat insular group of "crusty Yankees ... a closer look at history reveals a diverse mix of natives and immigrants from many backgrounds."

Indeed, the 19^th century population of Maine comprised many diverse cultures, including various native groups (such as the Maliseet, Abenaki, Penobscot, Micmac, or Passamaquoddy people) as well as immigrants from Canada, Ireland, Finland, Italy, and Sweden.

In the 20^th century, that population was joined by immigrants from Armenia, Somalia, Sudan, and many other countries.

Sure, Maine’s population is still largely white and European, but there’s no denying that many different cultures live and thrive here. And to some extent, the survival of those individual cultures depends upon the telling of their stories.

That’s why Papa Martel, which had been out of print for several years was re-published in 2003 by the University of Maine Press after the book wound up on the Baxter Society’s list of 100 books that reveal the history of Maine and the life of its people. And that’s why we’re reading it.*

*That, and the fact that Desmond highly recommended it.

Although it is not a true story, Papa Martel is based in large part on the life of Gerard Robichaud and the stories he told to his army buddies and his wife about his French-Canadian upbringing in Lewiston, Maine. Most of its material is based in fact, and in that way Robichaud managed to capture much of the essence of the Franco-American lifestyle in the early 20^th century.

As You Read

I’d like you to consider the following assignment options and come to group with one of them completed and ready to share.

1. Papa Martel is, first and foremost, the story of a family. Write a short story relating an episode or event from the life of your family. It can be completely factual, as a true autobiography would be, or semi-autobiographical, like Papa Martel.

2. As I mentioned, Papa Martel is semi-autobiographical. Do a little research and see what you can find out about Gerard Robichaud. Then put together a list of all the similarities you see between the novel’s characters and events and Robichaud’s life.

3. We’ve talked a bit about universal themes over the course of this year, specifically the big four:

a. Individual v. Society

b. Individual v. Self

c. Individual v. Individual

d. Individual v. Nature

Choose two of these themes and explain how you see each of them playing out in Papa Martel.

4. Although Louis Martel is not traditionally educated and is, in fact, functionally illiterate, he displays great wisdom at many points in the novel. Find at least three examples of Louis’ wisdom. Use quotes from the book (with chapter & page numbers) to reference each of these instances, and then explain why you find Louis’ actions or advice in each situation to be wise.

All right. That’s it for now. Enjoy the book, and I’ll see you on Tuesday, May 27^th for our last lit group discussion of the year.

Happy reading!

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Looking For Hamlet Scholar Talk

This is another event at the PPL in March in honor of the First Folio Exhibit, and it's on Wednesday, March 9th from 12-1:30pm in the Rines Auditorium.

"Focusing on Hamlet, University of Southern Maine Professor Ben Bertram will examine the way editors, directors, actors, teachers, and scholars choose among folio, quarto, or conflated versions of the plays. He will also be accompanied by actors who will perform Hamlet’s soliloquies and join in a discussion of how Shakespeare’s words make it from the page to the stage."

Get the full description here.

Definitions and Clarifications

pneumatic, adj. - literally, full of air. This term is often used to describe women in BNW, and seems to suggest that a woman like Lenina, who's "wonderfully pneumatic," is buxom, curvy, shapely, and yes, even bouncy. But pneumatic could also have a second meaning here, and that is to indicate that someone is a bit of an air-head, light on the intellectual matter, or not bogged down by weighty matters or considerations.

viviparous, adj. - a creature that is viviparous gives birth to live young that develop inside the body, as in the way mammals reproduce. Humans are viviparous (at least, they were until A.F. 632).

Malthusian, adj. - based on the beliefs of Robert Thomas Malthus, a British economist who argued that "population tends to increase faster than food supply, with inevitably disastrous results unless the increase in population is checked by moral restraints or by war, famine, and disease." - The Free Dictionary

Pavlovian Conditioning, n. - also called Classic Conditioning, it's a way of getting a subject to make certain associations between two previously unrelated things; Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was the psychologist who discovered that if he always rang a bell right before feeding his dogs, they came to associate the sound of the bell with getting fed, and therefore would start to drool upon hearing the bell. Here's a great comic related to that experiment.

Literature Discussion Group

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