For the French Academy, it is nothing less than a “mortal danger”. Inclusive writing “results in a disunited language, disparate in its expression”, the immortals calmly concluded in a press release released in October 2017. But what about the use prevailing in the Quebec literary world?
“Nobody wants, by making room for a more inclusive language, to mourn the style, the quality, the rhythm”, underlines from the outset the writer and literary director of the poetry review. Estuary, Stéphanie Roussel. “But we have to remember that it is literature’s characteristic to play with language, to deepen it, to question it. I find it a little contradictory that people wonder what will happen to literature if it makes room for inclusive writing, whereas literature is that: working on language and changing it. Inclusive writing doesn’t flatten the text. “
Prior to the publication ofa Cathodic Christmas (Éditions de Ta Mère, 2017), a collective of essays on Ciné-Cadeau that she directed, Stéphanie Roussel suggests to her comrades to feminize their text, a proposal that will meet with some resistance, before the majority of authors see the benefits they could derive, on several fronts, from this process.
“Some writers would tell us: ‘I can’t imagine how beautiful it could still be if I change my sentence. But little by little, that led some of them to see that they had writing tics, ease of language in their formulation ”, remembers the one who says she understands the apprehensions and other anxieties aroused by the small revolution. of a language over which the masculine would no longer prevail. “Myself, I sometimes have a reluctance”, not because she does not believe in the relevance of inclusive writing, “but quite simply because it destabilizes my relationship to language”.
A question of intention
The book Learn to write to us: guide and policy for inclusive writing, jointly designed by Les 3 sex and Club Sexu, distinguishes three main methods for inclusive writing. The epicene writing, where one does not perceive gendered names which designate people, and whose use is not always obvious to the eyes so its strategies are discreet (privileging “the electorate” rather than “the voters “). Feminization, which relies on full or truncated doublets, making it possible to make the feminine visible in the language (“the students”, or “the students”, rather than “the students”). And non-binary writing, which does not assign gender to terms that designate people (and which makes it possible in particular to represent people of gender diversity). A writing that gives pride of place to neologisms, such as iel, amix or celleux.
“It is important to remember that inclusive writing is not just one practice, but a whole,” argues the creator of this guide, also vice-president and linguistic consultant for Les 3 sex, Magali Guilbault Fitzbay. “We have to think about our intention, that’s what will define the method we are going to use”, whether we want to erase the binary expression of gender in the language, or rather to make the feminine appear there.
While many Quebec publishing houses have embarked on a reflection on the use of one form or another of inclusive writing, all those consulted by The duty explain that their authors remain sovereign in the space of their text. “It remains on a case-by-case basis,” summarizes Stéphane Dompierre, literary director at Québec Amérique, a house that publishes both novels and short stories as well as essays and practical books. “It goes in quite a lot of directions: I have an author who was delighted, and even surprised, that we are not opposed to her inclusive writing in a fictional text, as I have a dog trainer who prefers We say “dog trainer” when we talk about the profession in general because there are more women than men in this profession. “
Even if a particular method has not yet established itself in the whole literary community, it is nevertheless important to choose one to which one will stick for the whole of a text, or of a corpus. . “On an editorial level, the biggest challenge is really consistency and achieving a certain homogeneity in inclusive writing,” argues Catherine Dupuis, who for her part works at Éditions de la Tournure, whose catalog accommodates several non-binary or trans people.
The mirror of identity
Literary director of the Poèmes collection at Triptyque editions, Nicholas Dawson considers, first and foremost, inclusive writing as a tool allowing him to bear witness to his own relationship to gender identity. “It’s a political question, a question of inclusiveness. Language is something which, like identity, is not fixed, and it must be able to account for all possibilities. “
But beyond these important considerations, the author of Now my home is also delighted with the discussions generated by inclusive writing, which multiplies the opportunities to question a text. He evokes the bias of a contributor to the journal Moebius (he is a member of the editorial board), who wanted to use the word “author”, rather than “author”, generally preferred by the quarterly. “I asked him why, not to be arrogant, but to find out, and I understood the idea behind his choice. The important thing is to discuss, not to play police. “
If he can no longer be in favor of a literary environment that embraces inclusive writing, Nicholas Dawson nevertheless invites these choices to be made in an enlightened manner. “Above all, we must not do it blindly. Writing a text means having to do the best possible with a series of micro-choices: choices of words, of form, of lines of verse. Our choices about inclusive writing must be smart, and not just to follow a fad. “