The Art of Losing

Diaries are odd things, particularly when they are written with publication in mind. Part gossip, part newsletter, at once intimate and distant, they provide a snapshot of how things appear to the writer on any given day. The British have developed them into an art form; North Americans, not so much, though Charles Ritchie and Allan Gotlieb have been exceptions.

In Quebec, published diaries are more common than they are elsewhere in Canada. Jean Paré, the former editor of L’actualité, published Journal de l’an I du troisième millénaire in 2002, for example. More recently, Dominique Lebel, a consultant who worked for Pauline Marois when she was premier, has published two large volumes of diaries. Now Robert Lalonde, the actor, director, teacher, and author, has published La reconstruction du paradis. It is a chronicle of his life after a fire destroyed his house...