Teaching the Québécois novel of the land from a gender perspective.

Abstract

The novel of the land has been central to twentieth-century Québécois literature. While this literary genre has often been studied from the point of view of French-Canadian identity, it is also worth noting the interest of analysing these novels from a gender perspective. The aim of this study is to propose a way of approaching, in the university classroom, the analysis of some fragments of different novels of the land. We will carry out with the students a reflection on this traditional genre and on the rewritings that some female authors have made. The figure of the mother, silenced by tradition, will particularly allow us to observe the image of women conveyed by these novels. We will see how women writers used this canonical form in order to question this feminine ideal and to show another reality. Their texts highlight the limited stereotypes that have traditionally defined women and the need to overcome these models so deeply rooted in society. The analysis of the female characters, and particularly of the mother figure, the observation of the complex relationship between mother and daughter revealed in these novels, will allow students to better understand not only the evolution that has taken place in Quebec’s literary history, but also how and why different female authors have tried to subvert traditional patriarchal models. We believe that including a gender perspective in the classroom is essential to foster reflection and to encourage students to question traditional
stereotypes.