Volkswagen Blues

Jack, a French Canadian, lives in Quebec City and has just turned 40 years old. A writer who has published five novels and received at least one literary award, Jack nevertheless “was not very pleased with himself as a writer. He didn’t like himself very much in general (he thought he was too thin and too old and too withdrawn)” (31). Jack once had a close relationship with a woman, but he was so immersed in his writing that he didn’t “pay much attention” (98), and one day she walked off with someone he’d never heard of.

Jack’s most significant relationship is with his older brother, Théo, whom he hasn’t seen for 15 years. Since childhood, Jack has venerated Théo. He attributes to Théo the same courage, adventurousness, and honor that prevail in the stories they both cherished of 17th-century French explorers in North America. Where Jack imagines Théo in the same league as their shared heroes of history, he sees himself falling far short. Thus, Théo’s expansive persona and daring exploits fill Jack’s memories of growing up, and it is Théo’s heroic identity that Jack cares for more assiduously than his own. Indeed, Jack’s very name shows his deference to Théo in matters of identity: “Jack Waterman” is the English