Department of French

Professor Juliette Rogers

Macalester College, USA

2019 Fulbright Scholar, France (Université de Lille)

Thursday 21 March, 4pm

ORB 1:24

For the past 30 years, Quebec has seen an explosion of new novels, plays and film focused on the experiences of immigrants, often grouped under the general title of "littérature migrante".  In many of these works, the protagonists' reasons for coming to Quebec vary as much as their impressions of their new country, but we find in almost all of these fictional characters the development of a transnational identity that allows for greater personal expression, even if intercultural comprehension remains difficult. This presentation will examine the phenomenon of letter-writing and the impact that episolarity has on the development of a transnational identity in several recent plays, including Incendies by Wajdi Mouawad (2003, trans. as Scorched), Silences by Marco Micone (2004, trans. as Silent People), and Je pense à Yu by Carole Fréchette (2012, trans. as Thinking of YU).