L’intégration des écrivains immigrants au Québec. La reponse ironique de Dany Laferrière

Abstract

The social and cultural fabric of Québec has been profoundly transformed for about twenty years. Québec, and in particular Montréal, have now become increasingly plural. As countries of immigration, Canada and the United States have established and recognized traditions of immigrant and minority literature. But for Canada this tradition has been mainly if not exclusively expressed in English. The historical context of Québec literature, reflecting the close association between the French language and a single cultural community, made impossible until recently the inclusion of minority voices within the framework of the Québec literary institution. In the younger generation, identities are still only defined by starting from a pre-established cultural and family background, perhaps Québécoise, but perhaps also Haitian, Algerian, Chinese, or Polish. In an almost irreversible way, the borders move or are reduced. Dany Laferrière, writes from a space which is at the same time both within, and peripheral to, Québec society. His marginality is expressed both explicitly in the thematic material of his writing and textually through choices of language and form. The provocative blend of continuity and difference, affiliation and dissidence expressed in the work of this writer, as well as the importance he gives to language, mark this writing as a significant development in Québec literature.