I have spent my professional life observing the world through the prism of statistics. I make no apologies for this, because for me, it often starts there.
During all these long years, submerged in censuses and surveys, I collected (and read) a large number of novels dealing with migrations. For a long time, I have noticed that fictional writing sometimes succeeds better than our scientific reports in conveying migratory realities full of emotions, tears, but also hopes. Not that I am suggesting the replacement of one (science) by the other (literature), but I believe that we benefit from “listening” to both.
My choice of novels essentially aims to answer the question: what does literature teach us about the history of immigration to Quebec? This story is always told from the point of view of the majority immigrations, French and British. Four groups are notably absent from this story: Indigenous people, Blacks, Latin Americans and Asians. I decided to give them a voice. I thus favor “inside” points of view, the migratory experience as experienced by the actresses and actors themselves. It is, as Naomi Fontaine says in Shuni (Mémoire d’encrier, 2019), to “tell what the numbers don’t say »1.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Novels allow us to “tell what the figures don’t say,” writes Naomi Fontaine in Shunipublished by Mémoire d’encrier, in 2019.
The idea of associating sociology and literature, including the novel, is not new in Quebec. A special issue of the magazine Sociographic research published in 1964 under the direction of Fernand Dumont and Jean-Charles Falardeau constitutes the starting point for reflection on the links between sociology and literature in Quebec.
In this issue, we find two different approaches. The first approach, represented by Fernand Dumont, considers sociology as criticism of literature. It falls within the field of literary criticism, the role of which is to make a critical judgment by evaluating, among other things, the originality, meaning and quality of the work.
The second approach considers literature as an expression of society and is represented in this issue by Jean-Charles Falardeau in his article “Social circles in the contemporary French-Canadian novel”. It is in this approach that my research on immigration in the novel takes place, it becoming in a way a source of testimonies as we do in qualitative anthropology and sociology.
In short, for me it is not a question of talking about “migrant literature”, but rather of Quebec novels on immigration. The nuance is significant, because the choice of novels is not based on the origin of the authors. Moreover, in my corpus, most were born here in Quebec and are therefore not immigrants.
Question the novels
The choice of a corpus of novels always raises the question of “representativeness”. Even if there is no question here of “statistical” representativeness, this choice must be based on criteria which make it possible to validate its scope.
Thus, my choice of novels is based around the basic questions that we ask in scientific research on migration. It is as a sociologist and demographer that I examine the selected novels. To do this, like any survey, it is necessary to have a framework which specifies the questions and themes to be studied. The analytical framework that I follow is the same that I have used in my scientific work. The ultimate criterion for the success of such an operation is thus linked to the basic question: to what extent do the novels selected shed original and “representative” light on the understanding of immigration stories in Quebec.
In closing, it is important to emphasize that this is literature written essentially by authors whose mother tongue is not French. This means that it is participating in a remarkable way in the construction of a new inclusive Quebec Francophonie. But we can ask ourselves the question: will they be allowed to do so? as Salah El Khalfa Beddiari asks: “I am the stranger, son of the desert and the oasis, the south winds pushed my ship onto your coastline. The desert storm swept away my country, I lost my throne. Now I am light, without mooring, like a feather, I seek to land on your homeland or land on your river. Will you allow me? »2
1. The results of this research are recorded in my book Quebec told differently (Del Busso, 2023).
2. Adel, the migratory apprenticeMémoire d’Encrier, 2017
Three novels to explore migrations
Victor Piché offers three books that give voice to indigenous and diverse writers. Of course, other authors also explore migrations, including Georges Anglade, Ook Chung, Boucar Diouf, Rima Elkouri, Sergio Kokis, Kim Thùy, Vania Jimenez.
Kukumby Michel Jean
Michel Jean’s novel addresses the history of immigration-invasion which caused the territorial and cultural dispossession of the Indigenous people of Quebec. It is narrated by Kukum, which means “grandmother” in Innu-aimun and who is the author’s great-grandmother. “Dispossessed nomads, we could only be what we were, stateless people. » Published by Libre Expression, in 2019.
The burneryby Émile Ollivier
In The burnery, the most Montreal of his novels, Émile Ollivier sings of his great attachment to Montreal and in particular to the Côte-des-Neiges district. “Montreal, this city that he believed at the beginning to be only a land of passage before the great return, entered his skin, his brain like red-hot nails in the flesh of the tortured. » Published by Boréal in 2004.
Where I hideby Caroline Dawson
Caroline Dawson’s novel allows us to enter the world of a child forced to follow her parents and witness their devalued and humiliating life. In short, this book is a story of resilience. “Between each of the jolts of my little body in the elementary school cafeteria, I tasted the bitterness of difference. » Published by Éditions du Stir-Mage, in 2021.
Calling all
Have you been struck by a novel that addresses migration? We want to know him. And know why this reading was important to you.