The prestigious Medici Prize, won Thursday by Kevin Lambert for May our joy remain (New Attila / Héliotrope), crowns the talent of the author from Chicoutimi. And the media hype that surrounds – and will surround… – this award, granted for only the third time to a Quebecer, also confirms Kevin Lambert as a “media writer”. In a few years, he made his way from the magazine Moebius to the interviews of World and of Telerama ; he was the subject of a column in the Montreal Journal and one of Figaro ; he fencing on social network with Prime Minister François Legault and with the “Goncourisé” Nicolas Mathieu. A look at the path taken in the public arena, here and in France, by a Quebec author with now indisputable media and intellectual panache.
In Quebec there was Michel Tremblay. Victor-Lévy Beaulieu. Dany Laferrière — great media writer, capable of playing Miss Weather on TV, of doing high-level art criticism, of castigating the columns of Richard Martineau, of quoting Borges, of being a favorite on the show TV Everybody talks about it.
There was Marie Laberge and Chrystine Brouillet, adored by the general public, but who did not arrive, especially when Mme Laberge launched into self-publishing, to be so recognized for their writing by the literary community. Recently, there were Kim Thúy and Simon Boulerice, too.
“Often in Quebec, media writers also had to be a little something else; or talk about something a little other than literature,” explains David Bélanger, professor of literature at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières.
Writers we saw on TV sharing a recipe, a family memory, or doing the splits; who were also in the media as an actor, ex-restaurateur, columnist on a subject other than books and writing.
The first line
David Bélanger has been interested for years in what he calls “the front-line writer”. “For someone who has no idea what literature is,” he explains, “and who is not interested in it, it is the ‘front-line writer’ who represents the literature. »
And he is a writer who shapes, through his involvement in the public space, the collective idea we have of what a writer is, of what literature is.
According to Mr. Bélanger, Kevin Lambert is now taking over from Dany Laferrière to play this role. The Academician has abandoned his media occupation in Quebec for several years, making his public presence rare here.
Culture fans have known Mr. Lambert for a while: the author has been regularly invited, especially from his second book, Roberval Quarrel (Héliotrope / Nouvel Attila, 2018), on Radio-Canada radio — The more, the more we read! ; The evening is (still) young.
If “literary insiders” had heard it, it was the Facebook skirmish with François Legault last summer that made Kevin Lambert clearly appear as a writer in the media for a wider audience, according to Mr. Bélanger.
Remember that François Legault had made a positive mini-critique of May our joy remain. Kevin Lambert did not appreciate what he perceived as a one-sided understanding of his work, from multiple points of view, and of the housing crisis. He had sharply decried it, also positioning himself politically.
Say in simple words
According to David Bélanger, Kevin Lambert is the most intellectual and radiant media writer that Quebec has known to date.
“He has the position of an intellectual turned towards a form of knowledge closer to, for example, Alain Farah, who was very invested in his media presence and now seems to have detached himself from it,” analyzes the professor.
“These two are not going to talk about literature to talk about something else. And they go to the media to only talk about literature. They do it well, with simple words, and can carry complex concepts,” such as sensitive reading in publishing, for example.
“They remain very close to the public in their speeches. They make things easily understandable. » Lambert and Farah are also literature teachers, and know how to teach.
TV intellectual
“I think that most writers don’t need to define themselves strongly in the media, given that there isn’t a lot of noise around them,” according to David Bélanger.
“Kevin Lambert was invited to do so in a controversial climate. » And he did it with charisma and ease.
And if necessary, with a truly smiling, scathing and playful repartee, as during his interview at Everybody talks about it where he reframed a quote from Denys Arcand, recalling that Shakespeare had sources, did research, and was not the sovereign and self-solo-inventive writer that the director imagines himself to be.
He is also photogenic, capable of being stunningly beautiful in a glorious photo, or of appearing as an ordinary and friendly neighbor both on TV and on social networks.
“What Kevin Lambert is saying, in his media style, is that you can be an intellectual, know what you do, want to do it, define it well, define it in depth, without losing as much attention and media relevance as we want to have,” continues David Bélanger.
“There, it will be interesting to see how he resumes his own trajectory. Because it’s also a flash. » And because duration also counts in the role of media writers, and can be tiring: Michel Tremblay, for example, was a solid media writer, and is no longer one.
“A third book with such success as that experienced by Kevin Lambert… It’s intriguing to see what it will give. Will he exploit this position? ”, which can also be grueling to hold, or “is he going to want to turn away from it?” » Will Kevin Lambert be able to continue to make his media presence an “exercise in joy”, as he himself says, which allows him to be in contact with readers, authors and to talk about literature – one of his passions?
To be continued… in your media.