Mad Shadows (Marie-Claire Blais)

Mad Shadows is the 78th volume in McClelland and Stewart's New Canadian Library series. It's also the 1959 debut novel of French-Canadian author and playwright Marie-Claire Blais. Blais is the author of more than thirty works, as well as the winner of the 1996 Governor General's Literary Award. Mad Shadows was published under the French title La Belle Bête.

Mad Shadows focuses on the lives of Louise and her two children, Isabelle-Marie an ugly but hardworking girl, and Patrice a "beautiful idiot." Isabelle-Marie is jealous of her brother's beauty and attempts, more than once, to disfigure and ruin his beauty. Patrice is ignorant of his own empty mind. He longs only to see his own reflection in the lake and in the mirror, and for the love and affection of his mother. Louise believes that Patrice is a genius deep in thought; she is entranced by his beauty and babies him for her own benefit.

Isabelle-Marie and her family live in a somewhat surreal countryside. The setting reminds me, in many ways, of magical realism. Patrice and Isabelle-Marie hardly encounter the outside world. For Isabelle-Marie venturing to a neighbourhood party is a massive and intimidating step. Apart from her step-father, her husband and family she directly interacts with no one else throughout the entire novel. 

Although the novel, as a whole, is amateurish, it's significance must be noted. The novel rejects certain conventions and norms. Sincere love is completely absent and beauty does not equal goodness. Blais plays with the binary of the beautiful and the ugly, portraying both as capable of behaving in ugly ways and becoming ugly. In fact, in the end, the boundary between the beautiful and ugly merges. 

Also of significance in this novel is Isabelle-Marie's intentional burning of the grain fields near the end of the novel. When she does this she severs her ties to the land and to the way of life she once lived. This is, perhaps, a nod from Blais to the Quiet Revolution which was occurring in Quebec at the time of Mad Shadows publication. 

There's so much symbolism and so many themes to dig into in Mad Shadows. Although I wouldn't recommend it as an introductory novel for readers looking to get into mid-twentieth century Can. Lit. as there are, I believe, far better examples of writing from this period, but it's definitely worth the read for any student or curious lover and explorer of Can. Lit.