Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Writing a History of Literature in Canada
- I Beginnings
- II The Literature of New France, 1604–1760
- III The Literature of British Canada, 1763–1867
- IV From the Dominion to the Territorial Completion of the Nation, 1867–1918
- V The Modern Period, 1918–1967
- VI Literature from 1967 to the Present
- 21 Sociopolitical and Cultural Developments from 1967 to the Present
- 22 English-Canadian Literary Theory and Literary Criticism
- 23 The English-Canadian Novel from Modernism to Postmodernism
- 24 The English-Canadian Short Story since 1967: Between (Post)Modernism and (Neo)Realism
- 25 English-Canadian Poetry from 1967 to the Present
- 26 Contemporary English-Canadian Drama and Theater
- 27 Canons of Diversity in Contemporary English-Canadian Literature
- 28 Literature of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
- 29 The Quebec Novel
- 30 The French-Canadian Short Prose Narrative
- 31 French-Canadian Poetry from 1967 to the Present
- 32 Orality and the French-Canadian Chanson
- 33 Drama and Theater from the Révolution tranquille to the Present
- 34 Transculturalism and écritures migrantes
- 35 The Institutionalization of Literature in Quebec
- Further Reading
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
35 - The Institutionalization of Literature in Quebec
from VI - Literature from 1967 to the Present
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Writing a History of Literature in Canada
- I Beginnings
- II The Literature of New France, 1604–1760
- III The Literature of British Canada, 1763–1867
- IV From the Dominion to the Territorial Completion of the Nation, 1867–1918
- V The Modern Period, 1918–1967
- VI Literature from 1967 to the Present
- 21 Sociopolitical and Cultural Developments from 1967 to the Present
- 22 English-Canadian Literary Theory and Literary Criticism
- 23 The English-Canadian Novel from Modernism to Postmodernism
- 24 The English-Canadian Short Story since 1967: Between (Post)Modernism and (Neo)Realism
- 25 English-Canadian Poetry from 1967 to the Present
- 26 Contemporary English-Canadian Drama and Theater
- 27 Canons of Diversity in Contemporary English-Canadian Literature
- 28 Literature of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis
- 29 The Quebec Novel
- 30 The French-Canadian Short Prose Narrative
- 31 French-Canadian Poetry from 1967 to the Present
- 32 Orality and the French-Canadian Chanson
- 33 Drama and Theater from the Révolution tranquille to the Present
- 34 Transculturalism and écritures migrantes
- 35 The Institutionalization of Literature in Quebec
- Further Reading
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
Summary
From the Institutionalization of Literature to Literary Institutions
IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TODAY to discuss Quebec literature without considering its institutions and, in particular, its institutionalization over the past century. This predicament explains Gilles Marcotte's (1925–) remarks on “Institution et courants d'air” (1989), in which he observes that “the literary institution is not a new topic in Quebec literature. On the contrary, it is our oldest idea. Just as God exists before creation, the institution predates the works” (26). The narrator of Catherine Mavrikakis's (1961–) novel Deuils cannibales et mélancoliques (2000) makes a similar statement: “In Quebec, there are more literary prizes than books published…. It's all about building the institution, whatever the cost” (150). Marcotte's critical analysis of the inverted chronology of institution and production in Quebec's literary landscape and business has become commonplace; and although in the case of Mavrikakis's narrator the comment may sound rather cynical, the observations of Marcotte and Mavrikakis illuminate the crux of the problem: Both criticize literature as an apparatus that has become a matter of course.
The institutionalization of Quebec literature after the Révolution tranquille opens a vast field of inquiry: In what ways and to what extent have critics, universities with their respective curricula, journals, publishers, and organizations awarding literary prizes participated in this institutionalization? What has been the role of literary histories, anthologies, essays, new media, and funding agencies in the process of determining an autonomous Quebec literature, independent of the former motherland France?
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- History of Literature in CanadaEnglish-Canadian and French-Canadian, pp. 509 - 518Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008