Montreal, the beautiful

Robert Barsky is the first to have brought it to my attention. At the time I was a Lit student at UQAM, and he a “chargé de cours,” or temp teacher, of a first year Intro to Literary Theory course. He brought it up because of his own work and involvement with Marc Angenot. Back in 1995, these two men thrived on Montreal for its place&time. Mr Barsky described this city as the port of intellectual exchange between American and European, and English and French, a city where cultures collide in a multifarious yet small-town way. Montreal is the community-cosmopolis. In the 90’s, it was the place to be.

Since then, hindsight has added to the city vibe. The spoken-word scene of the late-90’s was in Montreal or nowhere (at least as far as Canada was concerned). With the writers come the musicians, as this article attests. Funny thing is the temporality of the art forms. Spoken word has practically abandoned Montreal stages. As for the music, most of these bands where formed in the 90’s and are just now seeing, via (super-)stardom, the fruits of their labour.

I bring this up because 11 years after my introduction to the place&time of my city, rent is no longer cheap and I am wondering if “it’s over.” Did the expats in Paris between the two World Wars know of their place&time? And for some, by the time they got there, was it already over?

Time might not be so expedient for the intellectual and literary crew. Montreal might still be a great place for the exchange of ideas. Yet my ‘old age’ might have me be a tad blasé, because part of me feels like I was subjected to a show that’s now over. Like candid camera, I was there but didn’t realize it at the time. Now the joke’s on me, and where off to a commercial break.