New classics already widely taught

Don’t dust off your old classics too quickly. Yes, we still read Maria Chapdelaine, The occurring Or Sisters-in-law in the Quebec literature course at CEGEP, but Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Kev Lambert and Caroline Dawson have found a place of choice in the corpus of many professors. To the great pleasure of the students…

Of all the works that dominate our list, The woman who fledby Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, is by far the darling of CEGEP literature teachers.

Annissa Laplante and Marie-Claude Tremblay, who both teach at CEGEP de Sherbrooke, integrated the novel into their program for the “panorama of Quebec history” that it offers. “It allows us to review the entire history of Quebec through a character,” emphasizes Annissa Laplante. We can talk about the past, but with a contemporary perspective. »

And they are not the only ones to think this way among the ten teachers we surveyed.

“This work allows me to approach the Great Darkness, the Quiet Revolution, Overall refusalthe history of feminism in Quebec and to study the effects of narration, the links between reality and fiction,” adds Karine Blouin, professor of literature at the Cégep de Lanaudière in Terrebonne.

At the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, Marie-Eve Dionne has taught it several times in recent years – first because it was a personal favorite, but also because it is “an award-winning book, which we already knew it was important in the literary history of Quebec.” And which allows not only to consolidate the notions learned in relation to the history of Quebec, but “also and especially in relation to the evolution of the condition of women”, in his opinion.

“Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s writing is also a great factor of appreciation,” she adds. The short sentences, always poetic and impactful, allow for good understanding. »

Teaching the same authors, but not the same works

There are also works which disturb, which shock, which provoke – and which are found in the compulsory readings of certain teachers.

“We all have this concern to introduce literature, Quebecois or not, in order to open up interesting, important reflections and discussions. It can happen that we are wrong, that a title is less popular than we would have thought. But there is nothing better than when we understand that we have made an excellent choice and that the students will leave with a reading memory that will stay with them for a long time,” underlines Marie-Eve Dionne, from the Cégep de Saint- Hyacinth.

In class, she reads extracts from Damnby Nelly Arcan, for “the confidence she had in tackling, in an autofictional way, issues that would disturb and provoke”. She also has in her readings a precise extract from Crazy. “The silence that reigns every time in the class is special. It’s such mastered writing that it hits them instantly, especially since the themes of suicide and body image interest them,” she says.

Marielle Giguère, she chose to have people read Crazy in full to her students at Collège de Maisonneuve, notably because she finds it much more accomplished than Damn. “ Damnit was the novelty of this type of prose in a form of psychoanalytic discourse. There is something more flirtatious in the theme, in the posture of the escort, compared to Crazy. But ultimately, we end up with the same themes – the commodification of the female body, alienation, suicide, self-destruction. »

At the Cégep de Lanaudière, in Terrebonne, Éléonore Bernier-Hamel has been teaching another novel for several quarters which has provoked strong reactions in class. Rather than Kev Lambert’s novel May our joy remain, whose themes addressed would not reach middle school students as much, in his opinion, it is Roberval Quarrel (2018) that the professor chose.

“I read great classics like Maria Chapdelainebut I like to take them everywhere in this course. Often, they have never read Quebec works, so I find it super interesting to bring them from the deep region to something hyper contemporary, with subjects that push back heteronormativity, as in Roberval quarrel. It is a fascinating work, with complex characters, which challenges students’ preconceived ideas. »

The teacher even invited the author to class to answer students’ questions about the book. And when one of them came back to see her to thank her for introducing him to her work, after all the success that the author had for May our joy remainshe understood that she had achieved her goal.

Indigenous and migrant literatures

It is precisely with the specific objective of making their students feel challenged by their reading that a large number of teachers have integrated titles from indigenous and migrant literature into their corpus in recent years.

Frédéric D’Anjou, who teaches at Cégep Gérald-Godin in the west of the island of Montreal, alternates between the two, from one term to another, to study writers who have a “different and news about modern Quebec. This fall, it’s the turn of The enigma of the returnby Dany Laferrière – an author he often has his students read for his “absolutely extraordinary” writing –, and by Where I hideby Caroline Dawson – a title that many teachers have chosen to read since its publication.

“Laferrière has this humor that really pleases,” notes Marie-Eve Dionne, from Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. I have already read Country without a hat in full. [Les élèves] like to be in contact with other cultures. Travel is often in their values. Being explained the issues in Haiti, but also those of immigration, of uprooting, that pleases those who come from here, and it also resonates with those who are in the class and who have experienced this adaptation . »

For these same reasons, Caroline Dawson is popular with teachers – and CEGEP students. “Everyone who read it absolutely loved it. I would say that this work is a sure value,” believes Marie-Claude Tremblay.

Same story with Annissa Laplante, who even organized round tables and creative workshops around books at the Cégep de Sherbrooke.

“I think there are interesting themes that can spark a discussion not only on immigration, but also on feminism, for example,” insists Christine Robinson, from Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, in Longueuil, where Caroline Dawson taught sociology. “Caroline Dawson gives a voice to people we don’t usually talk about. »

His colleague at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, Maxime Lecompte, agrees.

At the Collège de Maisonneuve, Marielle Giguère chose for her part A thousand secrets, a thousand dangersby Alain Farah, for his way of approaching with humor the inner conflict between the culture of origin and the host culture. As for Marie-Eve Dionne, she had the Saint-Hyacinthe CEGEP read the first page of Ruby Kim Thúy, which some teachers avoid putting in the curriculum given that it often comes up in the most widely read contemporary Quebec works in secondary schools, with Kukumby Michel Jean, and The orange groveby Larry Tremblay.

More and more works by indigenous authors are also finding their way into the hands of CEGEP students, including Kuessipanby Naomi Fontaine. And they like them because they succeed in undoing the stereotypical images held by certain students regarding indigenous culture and literature. “This is completely beyond their expectations!” », underlines Marie-Claude Tremblay, who alternates between the three titles of the Innu author.

“My first criterion, to choose a work, is that I must have liked it,” adds the professor. We all have different tastes, so it’s important that I’m able to share my interest and show the value of this work. They have the right to not like reading, but in general education, you have to have this vision of how I will succeed in making them like a book, even if the interest is perhaps not there. »

Because the goal, recalls Éléonore Bernier-Hamel, still remains to lead them to eventually become readers; or, at least, to continue their reading and to develop, who knows, a particular interest in Quebec literature.