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Since 1960, the first-person narrative form has dominated the Quebec novel. As first-person novels often imitate non-fiction forms (autobiographies, diaries, etc.), it follows that this narrative choice would involve a certain degree of self-revelation. We will see though that this is not the case in the "nouveau roman" of Quebec. In fact, the Quebec narrator employs a number of techniques to distance him or herself from the "I" that is the object of the narrative. / In this work, we will attempt to identify some of the main characteristics of this new face of the Quebec novel. We will start with an exploration of two novels from the pre-1960 period: Maria Chapdelaine and Poussiere sur la ville. We will then study the contemporary era through our choice of four of Quebec's most famous novels: Le Libraire, Prochain episode, Kamouraska and L'Hiver de force. We will see that the "nouveau roman" is not as "personal" as its form suggests and that the distance between the narrator and his or her "self" is not only a constant but is also an evolving characteristic of the Quebec novel. / This work is therefore a study of the contemporary Quebec novel and its narrative properties, and of the distance that the narrator imposes between his or her present and past self.

According to Francois Ricard in La generation lyrique: essai sur la vie at l'oeuvre des premiers-nes du baby-boom , the group born in Quebec during the decade immediately following the Second World War is primarily characterized by "[...] un amour eperdu de soi-meme, une confiance categorique en ses propres desirs et ses propres actions, et le sentiment d'un pouvoir illimite sur le monde [...]" (p. 8). / The objective of the present research was to determine more precisely whether the first novel of writers of the lyric generation reflected the spirit particular to that generation, in what way and to what extent. In other words, the present work consisted of either confirming or invalidating Ricard's hypothesis by analysing it in the light of the literary works themselves. / Twenty-three novels were chosen according to the year of their publication (1967--1975) and the age of the authors at the time of publication (between 21 and 31 years). / An analysis of the works clearly confirmed Ricard's intuition: egocentricity and introspection, revolution and reinvention of literary style and narcissism were consistently present in the novels studied. These characteristics stem from a clear dominance of the autodiegetic narration style, the control of elements of time and space by the narrator, who is often personally identifiable with the author and finally from an upheaval of scriptural standards. The thematic of the style of writing as an outlet, a pleasure or an experimentation is ever present. The narrators themselves dominate the stage and their narcissistic personalities are evident throughout.

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During the seventies, a new discourse on language emerged and built up in Quebec. While the "querelle du joual" was almost finished, feminists became more and more aware of their so-called "mother tongue"'s inherent sexism. Believing in determinist linguistic theories, the vast majority of them came to the conclusion that language was a symbolic system that rejected women and women's experience. / While some American feminists were proposing an important reform of the language, in Quebec, a few women writers incorporated their preoccupations with language in their literary texts. These women dedicated themselves to intensive textual researches, with the intention of creating a new "women's language" that would override the patriarchal law ruling the symbolic order. The different works studied in this thesis have been chosen between those of the women most representative of feminist metalinguistic discourse in Quebec: L'Euguelionne (1976), by Louky Bersianik, L'Amer ou le chapitre effrite (1977), by Nicole Brossard, Une voix pour Odile (1978) by France Theoret and Lueur: roman archeologique (1979) by Madeleine Gagnon. / The analysis of these texts will particularly be focused on the tensions building between discursive and formal aspects of each work. We'll see if and how the metalinguistic discourse, which we can find in the texts themselves and in more theoretic articles, is manifesting itself by a radical manipulation of the language at a formal level. The variety of ways some women writers of Quebec tried to inscribe feminine experience in language can be shown as a proof of the extreme difficulty of these textual practices, which elaborate themselves through what they are desperately trying to overcome.

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