Trauma warnings are on the rise as studies conclude they are ineffective. These disclaimers, which warn that content could be sensitive, irritating or trigger upsetting reactions, are now proliferating in the arts community. Look, in a series of texts, on this phenomenon of trigger warnings, or TW for the close friends.
There is no suicide in the latest book by François Blais, The boy with upside down feet (Fides). This sentence, The duty heard it from the Dr Robert Edward Whitley, researcher at the Douglas Center for Mental Disorders. But also Mathilde Barraband, co-holder of the Research Chair on freedom of expression and Yan Hamel, professor of the course on children’s literature at TELUQ. THE thriller paranormal for young readers has been the subject of a public health warning since December, for fear of a “Werther effect”, a wave of suicides by imitation. Is François Blais a dangerous writer?
The definition on which Public Health relies to issue its vigilance notice is: “an act which consists in deliberately killing oneself”. What’s not in The boy with upside down feet. The only victim, Kaleb Saint-Martin, 5, ingests a dangerous substance to meet the challenge of a malevolent demon who promises him a bicycle. Kaleb wants the bike. Not death. He is not aware that he can end his life.
” I read. I am flabbergasted, slice Mathilde Barraband, co-holder of the Franco-Quebec Collective Research Chair on Freedom of Expression. There are only children in the book who are encouraged to adopt dangerous behaviors. None of them want to die. »
“If we look for metaphors, analyzes Mathilde Barraband, the book talks about the difficulty of saying no, especially for a child; and the need to sometimes do so. Suicide is not presented as a fatality, because the main character [Adrienne] keep standing up to the demon. It’s about the ability to resist curses. And intimidation, maybe too. »The critic of Duty awarded the book four stars in January.
The Quebec Association for the Prevention of Suicide (AQPS) judges for its part that “the risk involved in this book is quite low”.
Morality and the children’s book
“We expect two things from children’s literature, recalls for his part Yan Hamel, of TELUQ: to inculcate a taste for reading. And teach good values, contribute to education. Children’s books are always, in fact, intended for adults. They are the ones who buy them. »
So the children’s book is always supposed to be useful, supposed to be moral, he continues. Mr. Hamel has the impression that the question that Public Health asked itself would rather be: “Do we let someone who has killed himself speak to our young people? François Blais died in May 2022. He was 49 years old.
The fact that the “book was published posthumously after the author committed suicide in May 2022” is among the arguments put forward in the letter to public health directors of December 16, signed by the assistant deputy minister , Marie-Eve Bedard. But not only. For the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the fact that the word “suicide” is used on pages 275 and 288 of the book is an argument.
We actually read in the latest Blais that the specialty of the demon Pichal Peri, an archetype of South and Central Asian ghost stories, “is to lead people to suicide”.
In long conversations with The dutythe MSSS affirms that “the content of the book in itself constitutes a risk factor for a suicidal act in a vulnerable young person and constitutes sufficient reason for Public Health to issue a warning”.
“The most important issue is death,” writes the MSSS again, taking care to underline this passage. From a strictly pragmatic, even mathematical point of view, even if the risk were very low, if a large number of young people with vulnerabilities read the novel, the effects can be devastating. »
This is what most resembles censorship in what we have seen in recent years, because it is an authority that acts. The thing that is missing is the prohibition.
Public Health bases its decision on a meta-analysis published in The Lancet in 2021 on news media, film and TV, but written works are not included.
Public Health has already warned about documentaries (byein 2017, by Frédéric Nassif and Mathew Mckinnon, on the death of the son of Alexandre Taillefer), series (13 Reasons Whyin 2017), movies (1:54, in 2016, by Yan England). No other book appears in the examples given by the MSSS. As an example of cultural intervention, the MSSS reported to the Duty the warning made in 2016 on the Momo Challenge, a game of dangerous challenges launched on social networks. However, the Momo Challenge is an Internet scam, without any real danger, recognized since 2019 by the New York TimesTHE Guardian, BBC and Radio-Canada as fake news fueled by moral panic, which has spread through lack of verification. The notice remains today.
Books don’t lead to suicide
“Several strong studies indicate that‘there is no evidence of suicides by imitation after reading works of fiction,” says psychiatrist Robert Edward Whitley. Especially since the meta-analysis Copycat effect of fictional suicide, by Steve Stack, noted in 2009 that suicides are frequent in literature. Of the 239 books then offered in the study guide Cliff Notes for students in England, 25.5% included one or more suicides. A much higher percentage than the less than 5% found in American films.
Suicides by imitation are very real. But studies so far only confirm those caused by the news media, Mr Whitley said, and particularly by sensational media coverage, as in the case of the death of Robin Williams in 2014.
“We all know Anna Karenina. Romeo and Juliet. Even Jesus Christ, his sacrifice can be seen as suicide. We cannot erase suicide from the Western literary imagination”, reflects the researcher, in an interview. We could also list MyLady Bovary, Antigone, Wretched. Or works by Nelly Arcan or Albert Camus.
In youth, in Quebec? Suicide is discussed in A life in pieces by Maryse Pelletier, The long silence by Sylvie Desrosiers The perfume of girls by Camille Bouchard My life does not know how to swimby Elaine Turgeon, Lake Adelard by Francois Blais The importance of Mathilde Poisson of Véronique Drouin, to name only those, who have never been the subject of a warning from Public Health.
Monitor Literature
The AQPS defends the need for specialized support when the issue of suicide is addressed in schools. Wouldn’t it then be necessary to specify it for all the books and texts which approach the suicide, of which Romeo and Juliet ? “Indeed, answers its president and CEO, Jérôme Gaudreault, if we want to be consistent. We have to see what the intentions of the MSSS are. »
Does Public Health intend to monitor all Quebec literary novelties to prevent when suicide is discussed? The question, asked three times by The dutyhad not received a response when the MSSS indicated that it would no longer comment on this file.
Different political actors do not believe that Blais’ latest novel is dangerous. The Ministers of Culture and Education, Mathieu Lacombe and Bernard Drainville, have positioned themselves in this dossier on the side of freedom of expression and the free choice of teachers. Prime Minister François Legault also, more discreetly. Health Minister Christian Dubé declared on January 11: “I think we have gone a bit far”.
As Public Health is autonomous, the vigilance notice is still valid. Not without consequence. “This is what most resembles censorship in what we have seen in recent years, advances Mathilde Barraband, because it is an authority that acts. The thing that is missing is the prohibition. »
The effects of this type of intervention can be serious for publishers, given the unequal balance of power, explains Ms.me Barraband. The publisher has no recourse. Fides, a historic publishing house in Quebec, believes it is a victim of censorship. The whole team is very shocked by the episode, according to Jean-François Bouchard, general manager.
“All publishers will now play a surplus of caution. It’s not good for literature. Since there is such a fine consensus on freedom of expression in the current government, we must cancel the warning from Public Health, ”believes Ms.me Barraband.
The Association of Public Libraries of Quebec indicates that the majority of its members interpreted the notice “as a clumsy drift towards censorship”. The National Association of Book Publishers recalls that book publishers are aware of “their responsibilities when publishing works aimed at a young readership, especially when they address sensitive subjects. We have to trust them”. The Union of Quebec Writers believes that a public change of position is essential, because the MSSS opens the door here “to the blacklisting of artistic works,” a socially intolerable practice.
Need help ? Responders are available at all times at 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553), by text message (535353) or by chat (www.suicide.ca).