Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 72-73.

This thesis, L'Echec de la litterature quebecoise au XIXe siecle, is focused on the idea that literature was impossible as such in the 19th Century French Quebec. Les Anciens Canadiens serves as a revealer for this issue. The thesis first describes the socio-historical, ideological and literary backgrounds around this novel written by a seignorial class member. So we will see this seignorial class has solidly constituted itself only after the New France transfer to Great Britain. The thesis explains the ideological readjustment after 1837-38 in the French Canadian Society and has an interest in the antagonistic characters of the 19th Century Quebec literary contents: historial and rural novels; patriotic and personal poetry. Next the thesis examines how the Anciens Canadiens text is working, insisting on the logic and the contradictions of this working. Then the thesis explains how it arrived that Les Anciens Canadiens, commanded by a seigniorial ideology, was well received by petit-bourgeois readers. A light is thrown on the possibilities of realism of this novel and the reasons why they have not materialized. Finally, we try to show the contradictions in the petite-bourgeoisie socio-historical situation that have prevented the birth of true literature.

This thesis analyzes the representation of the Shoah in French-language Quebec literature. It first presents the numerous difficulties involved in the fictional representation of this genocide, which relate primarily to writers' authority: lacking the legitimacy of "true" witnesses, writers who address the topic run the risk of betraying the memory of those who were persecuted. The thesis then demonstrates that, despite theoretical obstacles, many novels and poems from Quebec touch upon the Shoah and express a feeling of guilt towards the victims as early as the 1950's. The last chapter postulates that since the 1980's, fiction has acquired a greater legitimacy and narrative forms used to represent the Shoah have diversified, due to the gradual disappearance of direct witnesses as well as the interval of time separating writers from the tragedy.

This Master's thesis is centered on the enchanted violin and its role in six literary tales from nineteenth century Quebec. The motif is traced throughout its history and its developments in various Indo-European contexts. The importance of the enchanted violin in the oral traditions of Europe and French-Canada is underlined. The motif's literary transformation in the nineteenth century is also analyzed; authors of the tales studied were chiefly concerned with the creation of a national literature, and this affected their portrayal of the enchanted violin in several ways. Vladimir Propp's structuralist morphology is used in order to define the function of the violin as a magic object in each of the works. Lastly, a mytho-critical reading of the six tales concentrates on the symbolic power of the instrument and speculates as to its ethnographic origins.

This thesis proposes to apply Queer theory as the framework for examining Michel Marc Bouchard's play Les Feluettes. This study is built around two methodological axes, one being the analysis of dialogue; the second, the application of Queer theory. Dialogue and staging are scrutinized in an effort to discover the Queer. The links between sex, power, language and knowledge will be specifically studied. The intention is to show how their relationship, based on opposition, can be modified by a subversive discourse. By way of introduction, a brief discussion of Queer theory will be presented to familiarize the reader with its origins, sources of inspiration and strategies of deconstruction. The first chapter will focus on the homosexual's interior monologue. Chapter two will focus on the homosexual's dialogue with other homosexuals. The third, and final chapter, will round out the analysis by studying the dialogue between the homosexual and heterosexuals. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

What is the nature of Quebec literature these days? Will we soon be speaking yet again of a national literature? Will we possess as much breadth of literature as do ethnic groups? These are some of the questions asked by one of the protagonists of Monique LaRue in L'arpenteur et le navigateur, a work which has provoked an outcry from the literary community. / Quebec literature, like Quebec society, has reached a crossroads; it is now in the process of redefining itself. / Is Marco Micone, an immigrant of Italian origin, considered a Quebec author? In this paper, we will attempt to answer that question by delving into his fiction, by examining his contemplative essays and by evaluating his position within the mainstream. We will also observe the way in which the concept of a culture immigree (transplanted culture), expounded by Micone, played a major role in the issue of ecritures migrantes (ethnic writing).

This thesis is concerned with the "Americanity" of Quebec literature and the existence of a cultural formation specific to the New World, based on a context of renewal, distancing and rupture with respect to European influence. The "real maravilloso" is perceived as an inherent American mode of expression, and its presence is examined in the work of Yves Theriault and Alejo Carpentier. An analysis of the short stories, Contes pour un homme seul (1944) by Theriault and "Histoire de lunes" (1933) by Carpentier, and of the novels Agaguk (1958) and Le royaume de ce monde (1949), allows us to compare the evolution from primitivism to the "real maravilloso americano", revealed in the novel through the "figures of the Other" and the status of the character, characterized by duality (contrast between the primitive forces and civilized world), its quest, its integration with nature, and the importance of sacred ritual.

No description available.

The decade 1940-1950 represents a decisive stage in the evolution of the relations between the Quebec literary scene and France. Whereas before the war, literary discourse keeps on upholding, in a dogmatic way, the superiority of French culture and literature, the next period is characterized, on the contrary, by a reassessment of this postulate. / The historical circumstances justify the setting up of exceptional institutional conditions. Some French writers and critics, in exile in North America, partake, to varying degrees, in the French Canadian literary scene. The backing of these intellectuals is not unrelated to the process of modernization and autonomization undertaken at that time by the major sectors of the Quebecer literary apparatus. / A conflict of interest in the publishing sector as well as ideological differences spark a controversy between Robert Carbonneau and some members of the Comite National des Ecrivains. This "quarrel", to quote Charbonneau, is an unprecedented example of direct confrontation between Quebecer and French literary agents. On this occasion, Robert Charbonneau redefines French Canadian literature outside of France's sphere of influence, France being a country whose status he wishes to limit to that of just one foreign reference among many. / This desire for autonomy can also be found in literary texts which, using means available to them, bear witness to an appreciable decline of the French literature. But whereas literary discourse attempts to resist annexation to French literature, the literary apparatus is subject, upon the Liberation, to a material and symbolic domination by the French authorities, a domination it cannot fight. In this respect, the conditions of literary production in the fifties are paradoxical since the text, while voicing its rejection of the French institution and its French Canadian identity, continues to receive its ultimate consecration from France.

No description available.