Arts and Literature in Canada:Views from Abroad, Les arts et la ...

Refiguring the Mother: Quebec Women Writers in the 80sCalifornia’s computer jungle. On the surface of things, the postmodern,detective-like plot of LaRue’s Copies conformes, replete with stolen computerprograms, a mysterious murder, and the intertextual play of DashiellHammett’s Maltese Falcon (1930), is an odd place for a mother—especially amaternal heroine. Having accompanied her husband to Berkeley on hissabbatical, Claire is far away from Montreal, from her langue maternelle, andfrom the values of her own fragile, minority culture. The range of her activityduring their six-month stay has been “reduced” to the task of mothering inlarge measure because of her own insecurities regarding the English languageand the fast-paced, foreign culture in which she finds herself.Among the high-tech, California computer crowd, and even to herself, Claireappears embarrassingly traditional 27 : “Moi, Claire Dubé. Trente-cinq ans,mariée, un enfant. Profession perdue en cours de route.” 28 We learn fromClaire later (p. 33), however, that Phil’s lengthy childhood illness was thereason for his mother’s interrupted career plans in journalism. In California,Claire’s lowly status of married housewife and “mother-woman” stands inopposition to the hustling, success-at-any-price careerism of Silicon Valleyelites. Moreover, at the end of her stay in the Bay Area, Claire views thecomputer industry ironically—cognizant of its counter-cultural roots andutopian educational objectives, but conscious as well of the unscrupulousnesswith which its entrepreneurs now guard and steal information to protect andincrease profits.Yet Claire will be drawn into the suspense and romance of this Californiaintrigue. Her efforts to retrieve her husband’s missing computer diskette, oncehe has returned to Montreal, cause her to take to the highways and neglect herchild. And when she does, maternal guilt invariably kicks in:...je rejoignis l’autoroute comme si j’avais eu le feu à mes trousses.Tout cela était parfaitement insensé. Ici, mon enfant n’avait que moiau monde. Un accident, un retard, et personne n’irait le chercher àl’école. J’étais une mère irresponsable. Je devais immédiatementretourner sur l’autre rive. (p. 63)Likewise, once she has fallen for the charm of computer entrepreneur DiranZarian, who appears to be implicated in the computer disk theft, Claire alsobegins to doubt her emotional commitment to her husband. After a one-nightfling with Zarian, she reprimands herself: “une mère moderne devait savoirrésister aux courts-circuits, aux nuits blanches” (p. 126).For Claire, who finally perceives her situation clairement, her child, herlangue maternelle, and her place of origin, as well as her spouse, representvalues to which she ultimately clings. Refusing to idealize them, she knowsthey are nevertheless part of her identity and sense of stability in the world. Inan era of interconnecting super highways, micro-second communication,proliferating computer copies, confusing identities and ethical emptiness, the121