Etudes littéraires, and: Le Romancier fictif: essai sur la représentation de l'écrivain dans le roman québécois by André Belleau, and: Jacques Ferron: cartographe de l'imaginaire by Pierre L'Hérault, and: Violence in the Canadian Novel Since 1960 / dans le roman canadien depuis 1960 ed. by Virginia Harger-Grinling, Terry Goldie (review)

HUMANITIES 47' 'S~miotique textuelle et histoire litteraire du Qu~bec: Etudes litteraires, 14:1 (April 1981). '95· $5.00 Andre Belleau. Le Romancier fictif: essai sur la representation de l'ecrivain dans Ie roman queiJecois Les Presses de l'Universit~ du Qu~bec 1980. 155· $9.95 Pierre L'Herault. Jacques Ferron: cartographe de l'imaginaire Les Presses de l'Universite de Montreal 1980. 293. $13.50 Virginia HargerMGrinling and Terry Goldie, editors. Violence in the Canadian Novel Since 1960 Idans Ie roman canadien depuis 1960 Printing Services of the Memorial University of Newfoundland. '99. $10.00 The volumes grouped here all touch to one degree or another on an ideological reading of Quebec literature (and English-Canadian fiction, in the case of Violence in the Canadian Novel ...), and all, in fact, are marked by reflections on the relationship between extra- and intra-textual factors in literary creation. In their introduction to the collection of articles in Etudes litteraires, Jean-Marcel Leard and Jacques Michon of the Universite de Sherbrooke, whence come most of the contributors, opt squarelyfor a semioticanalysis of literary texts that aims to gauge the structural-ideological affinities between works of a given 'serie.' They see their approach as fundamentally different from the traditional one which concentrates on'!,esthetique dans des particularites d'auteur: and stresses originality as the touchstone of value. Their hypothesis 'prevoit donc les differences en diachronie et les ressemblances en synchronie.' Leard and Michon stress that in a given period 'on voit que des contraintes d'emploi apparaissent, limitant l'emploi du systeme: cela cree des genres et des normes d'emploi particulieres.' They maintain that the establishment of literary norms is not fortuitous, but rather that these norms are (indirectly) socially determined. They and the other contributors are particularly interested in two moments of Quebec's literary evolution - the periods around 1940 and around 1965 - although they treat more generally 'la modernite de 1940 a1975 au Quebec.' The articles in Etudes Iitteraires are, for the most part, fascinating and stimulating. One is impressed by the modesty of the authors and the realization of most that a certain amount of 'reduction' is inherent in any new approach to literary criticism. As Louis Francceur writes in 'Theatre, culture et semiotique': 'iJ faut affirmer que cette simplification pourra ceder progressivement la place a des dimensions de plus en plus complexes jusqu'au point ou I'objet de notre analyse correspondra 472 LEITERS IN CANADA 1981 ad~quatement avec toute la realite que Ie dramaturge voulait representer.' Also, Michon and Leard make clear in their introduction that, after the 'descriptive' stage, which aims at highlighting the kind of structural changes which 'Ia modernite' has brought about in Quebec writing, 'il nous restera a entreprendre I'explication en etudiant les facteurs externes, institutionnels, sociologiques qui ont motive ou sanctionne ces transformations.' All of this said and done, this special issue of Etudes litteraires raises questions and doubts. It seems to me, for example, that the stress on commonality of literary structures at a given historical moment, and on differentiation between periods, leaves aside the interesting and important question of differences within the same period. (For example, the simultaneous appearance around 1940 of the 'roman du cas de conscience ' and the 'roman social,' to use Michon's terminology, briefly touched on in his Structure, ideologie et reception du roman queMcois de "940 d 1960 [1979], is barely mentioned here.) And, in spite of Michon's criticism of a 'parti pris esthetique' of the fifties which favoured first- over third-person narration, he and his collaborators seem to fall into similar value judgments of different literary approaches. This is seen in the negative connotation given terms like 'traditionnel' and 'classique: and in phrases like the following: 'Une coupure plus apparente que profonde apparait vers 191'5' or 'La veritable modernite apparait avec la disparition totale du r~ferent et de tous les niveaux d'integration.' Leard, in his article 'Du semantique au semiotique en litterature: la modernite romanesque au Quebec: is excellent in his third and fourth sections dealing with 'Ie texte semi-referentiel ou auto-n!ferentiel' especially when treating Hubert Aquin - and 'Ie texte a-referentiel...