Textualizing the Immigrant Experience in Contemporary Quebec

This is the first comprehensive study in English of the post-war literature of immigration in Quebec. It examines the literary representation of immigration as it relates to those who have moved to Quebec from such areas as the Caribbean, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Through this focus on immigration, the essays raise a series of questions related to gender, cultural pluralism, identity politics, and narrative forms. One of the key objectives is to consider the ways in which the literary texts portray the concept of immigrant culture and shape debates about Quebec’s national and cultural identity. The book explores how these texts re-imagine and redefine problematic issues related to the immigrant experience.

Textualizing the Immigrant Experience in Contemporary Quebec by Patrice J. Proulx and Susan Ireland is a cross-disciplinary work that will be of interest to scholars of French and francophone literature, cultural studies, the history of immigration, Canadian studies, and the literature of exile. The essays in this volume examine the ways in which the appearance of this contemporary corpus has led to a modification of critical categories, as scholars have sought ways to conceptualize this new body of literature.