18 - The French-Canadian Novel between Tradition and Modernism

Summary

The Rise and Demise of the Farm Novel

AS IN THE PRECEDING DECADES, the development of the French-Canadian novel after 1918 was closely connected to the nationalism of Quebec's Catholic intelligentsia: In 1866 Abbé Henri-Raymond Casgrain demanded that the novel should advocate the French language and Catholicism, as well as concentrate on regional themes, country life, and the memory of Nouvelle-France. Camille Roy's speech “La nationalisation de la littérature canadienne,” held in 1904 in the Société du parler français, built upon Casgrain's theses and led the way for virtually all novels produced until 1930. In order to adequately perform its function as a Canadian “épopée chevaleresque” and as a “gardienne toujours fidèle des intérêts supérieurs de la race et de la nationalité,” French-Canadian literature should above all be inspired by an authentic Christian faith, as well as comply with the creed: “Faisons ici une littérature qui soit à nous et pour nous.”

Roy's demands were echoed by the nationalistic writings of historian Lionel Groulx (1878–1967), who in La naissance d'une race (1919) advocated the purity of the French-Canadian race and even spoke of a “race supérieure.” Groulx established a concept of Nouvelle-France as a “terre d'élection,” not unlike the American concept of the “city upon a hill.” Similar to Roy, Groulx saw the regionalist-agriculturalist literature as the only authentic expression of the French-Canadian national character.