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THE GREAT CANADIAN MALE

GUY CORNEAU – The Love Doctor

Text: MANON CHEVALIER

Intro | SEP 03

Jungian psychoanalyst, bestselling author, globe-trotting lecturer – yet Guy Corneau is not your average Dr. Feelgood. He has spent many years upsetting the status quo and shattering stereotypes (like the "heartless man" and the "minivan family") and insists that raging and suffering are good. "Otherwise," he says in his silky-smooth voice, "we can never explore who we are and be free of our inner conflicts." In a market overrun with 12-simple-steps-to-happiness peddlers, Corneau’s advice resonates deeply with his many fans. There is plenty of substance to what he says, but surely that penetrating gaze, that weapon-of-mass-seduction smile and that beatific demeanour have something to do with his immense popularity.

Corneau’s ascension began with 1989’s Absent Fathers, Lost Sons, a (wait for it…) seminal work on the quest for male identity. It gave a voice to lost men everywhere but also helped him find his own voice: He left the confines of his Montreal office to become a prominent speaker and international media figure. He may have set out to heal the planet, but in the process he healed himself. "Repressing my own need for self-expression had made me very sick. But the sickness was just the wake-up call that I needed." His own emotional struggles are frankly recounted in his bestseller La guérison du cœur (the healing of the heart). His earlier L’amour en guerre (Lessons in Love) offered new models for successful partnership to couples on the verge of breakdown – another huge success, without pandering to psycho-pop clichés.

Now a calm, radiant fiftysomething, Corneau has just launched his latest tome, Victime des autres, bourreau de soi-même (victim of others, enemy of yourself) – a "sweet and sour" examination of how we unconsciously sabotage our own happiness. Naturally, Corneau offers a program for avoiding these pitfalls. "Oh," he smiles, "you might say it’s a program for life." His followers will be happy to know their guru is still following his bliss. [ ]

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