You want to (re) see the Solstice of Quebec poetry of 1976, with Nicole Brossard, Gaston Miron, Renaud Longchamps, Josée Yvon and Louis Geoffroy? Now you can, in two or three clicks: almost all archives Gaëtan Dostie’s multimedia literary works and the Gaëtan-Dostie literary media library has been accessible since Thursday on the portal of the Gaston-Miron Archives Center (CAGM).
This collection enriches the CAGM portal with nearly 350 documents, captured from the 1970s to the present day. Since 2008, the CAGM has sought to showcase audio or video archives on Quebec literature and cultural discourse. The Dostie collection is thus added to the 4,500 documents in the Radio-Canada collection.
Some documents bequeathed by Mr. Dostie date back to the 1960s and 1970s. “But most of the recordings – preserved in their original format, without any editing work – date from the years 1995 to 2019: they chronicle and document, for the essential, the poetic and literary topicality of the period – in a subjective and partial way, of course ”, indicated Karim Larose, who piloted the digitization of these documents for the CAGM, on his Facebook page.
Launches, shows, interviews, poetry readings can be found there in large numbers. The curious and the researchers can now access 50 minutes of interview captured in 1977 where Alfred DesRochers – yes, the father of Clémence… – recounts, smokes, coughs, recites and sings folk songs from his repertoire. One of the most interesting documents in these archives, according to Mr. Larose.
You can also watch a cooking poetry reading held for Roland Giguère’s birthday in 1999. And hear the poets Louise Desjardins, Denise Boucher and France Théoret read their poems at the 40e anniversary of the Noroît editions, in 2011. Among others.
It is in a spirit of sharing that Gaëtan Dostie left this part of the collection, without asking for any restriction on consultation, which can be done remotely. “I wish that public screenings of literary archives are organized”, he indicated by email to the Duty.
The director of the Gaston-Miron Archives Center, Karim Larose, was unable to make himself available for an interview with The duty.