Thursday, during the presentation of its annual prizes, the French Academy distinguished Quebec writer Hélène Dorion by awarding her its Grand Prize for poetry, which rewards an entire work. An honor that adds to a multitude of others in a career spanning more than 40 years, and more particularly recently.
Hélène Dorion heard the news about her little “writing lodge” in Orford, located in the middle of the forest, she told me on the phone. “I am in a sort of amazement. We’re always a little incredulous when this happens. It’s certain, I’ve won prizes over the years for my approach, but I appreciate the importance of it, for a body of work as a whole. It was a very beautiful and very strong emotion. In the list of winners of this prize, I find my founding readings – Jaccottet, Bonnefoy, Ponge, etc. – and in the most recent ones, poets that I admire enormously. There, I see my name, but I don’t compare myself to them, that’s for sure…”
However, she could, because in truth, I have rarely seen a Quebec writer who has devoted most of her life to poetry – a form which rarely leads to fame in Quebec unless a tragic death – be so celebrated. during his lifetime by the most prestigious awards, here or elsewhere.
The list is dizzying, and I would not have enough space to detail in an article the particularity of his CV: Alain-Grandbois prize, Aliénor, Anne-Hébert, Mallarmé, Léopold-Senghor, Athanase-David, election to the Academy of Letters of Quebec, member of the Order of Quebec and the Order of Canada, of the jury of the Louise-Labé prize…
This poetry prize awarded since 1957 by the French Academy, an institution dating from the 17the century, comes as an additional surprise for Hélène Dorion, who has just returned from a three-month tour in France, where she participated in all the important festivals, but also met booksellers, professors and students, because she is the first living poet whose work, My forests, is enrolled in the French baccalaureate. And believe me, that kind of thing impresses the French a lot. I was able to verify it at the Paris Book Festival last spring.
On her return, barely setting foot on Quebec soil, she received the badge of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec, with other artists, on June 10.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? »
She accepts the prizes because she knows the doubts that have punctuated her journey, and which always recur.
“I have always believed in this moment when we are at home, sitting at our work table, listening to this kind of inner necessity to do what we have to do, now, through writing, through ‘art. That moment was foundational for me,” she says.
It’s easy to say that we’re grateful when we see the awards and recognition like that, but you know, I know the pitfalls, the risks we take, and that’s part of life. every writer and every artist.
Helene Dorion
“It’s a lot like life, ultimately,” she continues. When we have moments of joy, we tell ourselves that it is worth continuing, as a kind of encouragement to this momentum. I am often asked what I appreciate most about my approach and for me, it is lasting. »
And that these prices shed light on poetry, in general. “I’m happy for myself, but I want people to say that poetry is accessible. That it can have media resonance. I know the work that goes into a book of poetry, what it takes to work in a genre that is not the one we put forward. It is important that the media be tuned to the reality of poetry, which has great importance not only in literary life, but in people’s lives. I think it has something to say in our societies, because it approaches the world from a particular angle, and I am convinced that we need this angle. Because we looked at all the problems from the same angles. Maybe poetry can lead us to shift our questions, because that’s what poetry does: it asks questions. »