Norman R. Beaupré
Biddeford, Maine

Synopsis

A lifetime resident of Maine, Norman Beaupré has written a mostly autobiographical novel about growing up in the Franco-American community of Biddeford. The novel is written in standard French, an unusual achievement for an American author, while capturing the authentic Franco-American dialect spoken in this region,

Le Petit Mangeur de Fleurs (The Little Flower Eater) is the story of a boy growing up and observing people and things around him, which he later remembers, in the words of English poet William Wordsworth, as "recollections gathered in tranquility." Beaupré tells the story of his family and neighbors and uses the language of the common, and at times illiterate, people that he knew.

"That is part of the novel's authenticity," notes the author. "it is also authentic because I had to go deep inside myself to recollect certain memories that were, and still are, painful to me."

The title of the book comes from a story recounted by Beaupré's mother about how, when he was but two years old, the young Beaupré ate flowers called bleeding hearts. Beaupré says that the title is a metaphor of a little boy who eats his aesthetics and grows up to become a writer. He also states that his story is a microcosm of any youth growing up Franco-American in a little Canada throughout New England. At the same time, it's a story that has universal resonance in that it deals with the imagination, a fascination with words, one's identity, and the preoccupation with failure and success in life.

Antonine Maillet one of today's foremost Acadian authors has described the novel as moving and filled with remarkable authenticity. In a letter to Beaupré about the novel she wrote: "This is a testimony of a place and an era that history does not have the right to erase."

ISBN: 2-8943l-213-X
Collection Roman-vérité
Format: 140 X 214 mm; 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in - 176 pages
Language: French

Published by Les Editions JCL.

Awards

• Finalist for the Prix Champlain, Québec
• Finalist for the Prix Yourcenar 2001, Services Culturels de I'Arnbassade de France a New York

Comments from Readers

From: Emanuel MERE
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Subject: Souvenir de Génelard

Cher Monsieur,

Désolé d'avoir tardé à vous écrire, mais la présentation de mon dernier ouvrage m'a accaparé ces dernières semaines. J'ai pourtant trouvé un peu de temps pour me plonger dans "Le petit mangeur de fleurs", l'histoire de cet enfant qui bris e sa coquille et "dévore" litéralement son être afin de mettre le pied dans le monde adulte et devenir l'auteur tant apprécié qu'il est aujourd'hui. Dans ce roman remarquable d'authenticité, captivant et profondément humain, le plaisir du lecteur n'est pas feint et surgit à chaque page en découvrant les aventures d'un bambin que la rudesse des jours ne peut accabler totalement, tant est grande sa volonté d'apprendre, et cette envie poignante de se gaver d'art et de culture afin d'encore grandir et vivre pleinement ses rêves.

J'ai surtout eu le plaisir de découvrir un auteur vrai, véritable acteur de la survivance de la culture francophone outre-atlantique, et je vous en remercie vivement.
J'aimerai beaucoup, par ailleurs, acquérir l'ouvrage "La Souillonne" mais ne sait où m'adresser. Vous est-il possible de me l'envoyer, et si oui me dire quelle somme je devrai vous régler? D'avance merci.

Très cordialement, et avec mes meilleurs souvenirs du salon de Génelard, le 14 octobre dernier,

EMMANUEL MERE
10, rue du Frachet
71640 SAINT-MARD-DE-VAUX

http://emmanuel.mere.monsite.orange.fr

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