Writing from a dual perspective

PAT DONNELLY
The Gazette

Saturday, October 21, 2006

CREDIT: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER THE GAZETTE
Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau write together at their home in Montreal.

The Story of French

By Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow

Knopf Canada, 483 pages, $36

They work back-to-back in their home office in Vieux Rosemont churning out magazine articles and books in both French and English. Sometimes, Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow write solo; sometimes, they write in tandem. When they co-author, Nadeau calls it "writing with four hands."

They already have two shared books to their credit, the bestselling Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, a study of what makes the French in France tick, and, now, The Story of French, a thorough look at the history of the French language.

They are already discussing plans for a third: a Canadian take on the United States, along the lines of 300 Million Americans Can't Be Wrong.

McGill University brought this duo together. Nadeau, 41, was born and raised, French-speaking, in Sherbrooke. Barlow, 38, was born and raised, English-speaking, in Hamilton, Ont. Barlow recalls meeting Nadeau in her first class, on her first day in her first year at university. Sparks flew. They were both attached at the time, but that changed by the end of the year.

They have been together ever since, the last 15 years as a married couple. The firm of Nadeau-Barlow operates as if the two writers were linked by telepathy, fluently flipping between languages, always consulting each other on the organizational details of life. When I arrived at their home, Nadeau asked to take my coat and by the time I had removed it, Barlow was the one poised to hang it up. Nadeau had slipped away to take a call.

"I think we have a special sensitivity to each culture," Barlow said as we settled into the dining room. "It's very eye-opening when you look at the prejudices of both cultures, from both sides." Barlow began her freelance journalistic career in English, reporting on Quebec issues for publications like Saturday Night, the Christian Science Monitor and the International Herald Tribune. But after the 1995 referendum, interest in Quebec fell off sharply, she said, and it became tough to sell a story. So she decided to master written French.

"I did my crash course in Chicoutimi," she recalled. "For years, we switched languages every week, on Monday mornings. And when we moved to France in 1999, we spoke English at home and French outside. Now it's kind of chaos."

Nadeau had already begun writing in English, in 1993, for two reasons, he said: "I wanted to publish outside of Quebec. Also, I realized that Quebec was not offering, in other languages, the stories it had to tell."

Once Barlow began writing in French, it took her a while to adjust her story pitches to the market. A francophone friend had once accused her of writing "propaganda" for the English press. She thought this was total nonsense until she began writing for French publications, which demanded different, but specific angles, too.

"The perceptions of society shape how people look at issues," she said. "You write for francophones. Or you write for anglophones. It shapes how you see things. So that was the great lesson that led to this whole writing about languages and ultimately led to the two books we've just published. It was really important for us to carry that dual perspective to France."

Barlow and Nadeau are both award-winning journalists who contribute regularly to L'actualite. In 2002, Nadeau wrote another book, a deliciously sardonic look at the quirks of the French in France titled Les Francais aussi ont un accent. The Story of French is far more serious.

"Each book has its own tone," Nadeau said. One of the key points made in this book, he said, is that French "surfs" on the success of English in the world.

"If English was not the dominant language, if the dominant language was German or Mandarin, French would not be as well-placed."

The Story of French took more than two years to write, with 12-hour workdays and extensive travel. "With two people, that's four years of work," Barlow said. They divided up the chapters, according to interest, then shared their drafts with each other. Barlow did the final edit. The French translation will be done by somebody else. The authors would rather spend their time writing their next book.

The Story of French was written in English for monetary reasons, Barlow said."It cost a fortune to write that book. One year we spent $45,000, just on travel." Writing in English made it possible to sell the rights separately and raise a larger advance. The Canada Council and Nadeau's father helped out, too.

Nadeau and Barlow insist that they write together without conflict. "But when we renovate a house together," Barlow said, "the fur flies." As for meal preparation, "We can cook together," joked Nadeau. "If she gets out of my way."

When Nadeau and Barlow returned to Montreal from France, they were travel-weary. They bought a house. And now they are about to take on yet another challenge to dual harmony: parenting. They are in the final stages of adopting twin 3-year-old girls from Haiti: Guirlande and Guirlene. Pictures of the girls, taken in a Haitian orphanage, are already up on the refrigerator. Their bedroom has been prepared. They'll be arriving in November, after the book tour.

"Our life isn't going to change," Barlow said, "it's already oriented around everybody else's kids. We have tons of toys downstairs."

Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau will appear at Books & Breakfast on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. at the Omni Mount Royal Hotel, 1050 Sherbrooke St. W .