Re: army-digest V1 #186

[james.hanna@ca.pwcglobal.com]

Salut, RC,
My understanding of the phrase "Je me souviens" is that its source is a 19th
century poem
which (in English) tranlated:  "I remember though I was born under the lily, I
flourished under the rose"
(Lily = France, rose = England).  As far as the interpretation of "rose" and
"lily", givent the symbols used
by both those countries, it is a fairly reasonable assumption.
I didn't mean to imply that the phrase solely refers to the French withdrawal -
I realize I wrote that poorly - but if the above source is
correct, it does refer to remembering both sides of the heritage of Quebec.  The
poem, at any rate, reflects a more
ambiguous view of life in Quebec under British rule.  I only wanted to make the
point (to some on this net) that the phrase,
insomuch as it is sourced from the above poem - is a lot more nuanced than most
today would like to see it.
In the end, of course you're right - its an interpretation of a phrase
attributed to a poem which itself needs to be interpreted.
If you say that the phrase does not come from that poem, I can't arque - I only
know what I've read, so if the source is in dispute, so be it.
After all, its not exactly an uncommon phrase.  On the other hand, if it does
come from that poem, than it is not an impossible stretch to view it
as a positive comment on life in lower Canada after French rule.
As for "it is certainly not up the English-Canadians to tell us what to think of
France's behaviour to give up
Nouvelle-France. It's up to French-Canadians to make their own homeworks and
decide by themselves what they want to think of it."
I wasn't telling you what to think - I was giving you my interpretation of what
French Canadiens thought in the 19th century.  I may be wrong,
and if you have any sources that counter my interpretation, I am genuinely
interested in reading it.  I hope you aren't advocating that the only ones
entitled to study and comment on Quebec history are French-Canadiens.  From my
reading of history, there was not a lot of love lost between the leaders in
Quebec at that time and France - and that was from a course I took with a
decidedly sovereignist professor.
Je m'excuse, que je n'est pas ecrit mon reponse en francais - j'ai besoin
beaucoup de pratique, et je manque le vocubulaire (et grammaire)
pour un reponse propre en francais.  Si je ne suis pas clair en anglais, je
ferai certainnemant des erreurs en francais!
A bien t�t,
James
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