Programming

I draw sentences from grammar books.

Each time I open a grammar book I am stuck by the italic and bold type sentences used as grammatical illustrations.

I often set aside the rules of the book and become obsessed by the lost sense of the sentences so sacrificed for grammatical purposes.  

There are within a proliferation of short sentences just waiting to have their true meanings revealed.  Through a slight of perception these lonely sentences become accessible and their meanings stand out – a meaning of unequivocal clarity and yet uncertain intention.

By being aware of the effect of meaning I can extract sentences from their grammatical shells.  Through this perceptive flip we probe these sentences with our tongues, investing them with meaning.

Translated from French to English by Douglas Scholes.

Marie-Line Laplante was born in Rimouski. Her studies in the Visual Arts and Philosophy are at the heart of her writing. Her works for the theater, as novels, as haikus or within notebooks are a blend of arguments, visions and drawings in the margins. Fifteen of her works have been adapted for public reading and for the stage, several for which she has won awards or earned writing residency fellowships. As part of the collective MLC, she has created radio performances with her sister Chantal Laplante. She has lived in Europe since 2003.