The literary critics of Duty offer 15 Quebec titles that marked the year. Here are the choices of Christian Desmeules, Anne-Frédérique Hébert-Dolbec, Ismaël Houdassine, François Lemay, Yannick Marcoux, Christian Saint-Pierre and Sonia Sarfati.
The irreparablePierre Samson (Heliotrope)
Historian lecturer at the university pushed aside in favor of a younger colleague, “seasoned homosexual” almost 60 years old haunted by his social, intellectual and romantic expiration date, the protagonist of 9e novel by Pierre Samson will go through all the states before realizing that electroshock can be beneficial. In addition to his erudition, his sharp humor, his multiple digressions and his false leads, The irreparable also gives us a critical and measured discourse on the state of the world.
This desire points meClaire Legendre (Leméac)
In this self-story flirting with the essay, Claire Legendre explores, based on an experience of a decade of involuntary celibacy, the complex avenues taken by a desire forged in the absence and in the expectation of a love. Offering a nuanced, literary reflection anchored in her time, the author seeks to understand the fictions, fantasies and other expedients to which single people cling or are forced, probing what, in our imaginations and our narcissisms, prevents the advent of self. Bright.
I watch porn when I’m sadSayaka Araniva-Yanez (Triptych)
Troubled, melancholic and vulnerable, Sayaka Araniva-Yanez’s first collection invites us to a lascivious and intimate encounter between the poetic figure and a bot (the machine). Their exchanges, carried by an inspired and breathtaking lyricism, reveal a passion as vibrant as it is ephemeral. Profoundly original, this proposal explores the shifting boundaries of our time, where the body, the first territory of existence, is a threatened habitat.
Québec rock. Offenbach vs CorbeauMichel Giguère, Christian Quesnel and Félix Rose (Free expression)
We fell in love while watching the documentary series Québec rock. Offenbach vs Corbeauproposed by Félix Rose. We felt the same happiness reading the comic book version, designed from the illustrations used in the documentary, as we delve into the rivalry of rivalries between two of the most important rock groups in our history. We love the expressionist drawings of Christian Quesnel and the research work of Michel Giguère.
In LaurentiaMarie-Andrée Lamontagne (Leméac)
At the end of the Second World War, a French collaborator found refuge in Quebec thanks to far-right mutual aid networks. With In LaurentiaMarie-Andrée Lamontagne appropriates “the Bernonville affair” with great freedom and takes us from Brittany to Quebec, from the streets of the Old Capital to Kamouraska. Against a backdrop of historical reality and moral and political ambiguity, she gives us an incredible story stitched together with moments of wonder which subtly addresses our relationship with France.
Chimeras
Frédérique Bernier (Nota Bene)
With his previous work, Hauntings (Governor General’s Award, 2020), Frédérique Bernier seduced us with her poetic and profound style. The author returns to us with an equally captivating sequel. In the pages of this second part, less voluminous than the first, we find Frida Burns, alter ego and literary double of the writer. Living between the intimate story and the essay, the book is located on the margins of the hubbub of the world in order to better question the silent links that shape our existence.
FannyRébecca Déraspe (Your Mother)
A comedy that looks without didacticism at the ravages of patriarchy. By combining derision and sensitivity, a thirst for justice and a visceral need to celebrate until the end of the night, the author provokes a meeting between Fanny, in her mid-fifties, and Alice, in her twenties, two women who will transform each other, metamorphose in the most moving and hilarious way possible. This is a piece that reconciles with the present while allowing us to hope for the best for the future.
The miracleWilliam S. Messier (Le Quartanier)
At the age of 15, William S. Messier learned that an injury he thought had healed threatened at any moment to sever his spinal cord. Revisiting the seemingly anecdotal adventures which could have caused his death, the writer engages in a delightful exercise in self-writing, in which he strives to accept the banality of his miraculous status. Following the sinuous path of the digression, his story oscillates between self-deprecation, neurosis and celebration of the cliché to probe the mechanisms of memory and its construction. Enjoyable.
Hello, my heartFanny Britt (August Horse)
Fanny Britt’s first novel for an adolescent readership, Hello, my heart, invites us to relive summer alongside Bernadette. Through new experiences, budding friendships and a first job in catering, she displays her sovereignty and her idiosyncrasy, despite panic attacks which make her waver. Nourished by mischievous humor and inspired inspiration, this skin-deep novel reminds us of the talent of Fanny Britt, of her delicate way of weaving the lines of life.
Garbage
!
Diary of a drainer
Simon Paré-Poupart (Lux)
As its title indicates, the book is a dive – freediving or not – into the heart of the profession of Simon Paré-Poupart, garbage collector in his spare time. The author recounts with many details and a lot of humor his professional daily life which is not easy. But he cherishes this little-known work, because there is no such thing as a stupid job. Beyond the preconceptions surrounding the activity of garbage collector, Paré-Poupart narrates his “art of collecting waste” with a unique style. The 38-year-old author also manages to give humanity to all these workers with multiple destinies.
SwimmingAndrée A. Michaud (Quebec America)
Of Buzzard has PreyAndrée A. Michaud knows how to make nature anxiety-provoking like no one else. Swimming is the same water. Bathing, plural. There is one right from the start, in the first part where a family vacation by a lake turns into a nightmare. There is another, in a second part from which we emerge stunned, shaken, stirred. What is moral? What is transgressive? But ultimately, who are we to answer for the characters (and the author)?
Letters to the white skyEmmanuel Simard (Bush Poets)
In his fifth collection of poetry, Letters to the white skyEmmanuel Simard contemplates the beauty of the constellations, wandering in serene weightlessness until he touches the earth and covers the living things around him with tenderness and benevolence. This prose poetry is full of images of astonishing originality, making us rediscover a world that we thought we knew. Between song and meditation, this collection is anchored in peace, nurturing this miraculous life with the love of a parent.
The unsightlyClaudia Larochelle (Quebec America)
In this authentic story built around three memories, Claudia Larochelle bears witness to the reality of being a woman on the threshold of the #MeToo revolution, both heir to journeys hampered by assumed misogyny and torchbearers of a more radiant future. Looking back on her adolescence in a religious school, her beginnings as a journalist and her experience of toxic loves, the writer weaves a web of shadow and light between the different facets of her femininity and traces a new path paved with sorority, laughter and hopes of children.
Botanica DramaThom (Pow Pow)
After the marking Rodeo House (2020), the mysterious cartoonist Thom signs a sort of origins story about his fabulous world populated by creatures as bric-a-brac as each other. Panic takes everyone by surprise since the unexpected disappearance of the Sun. While the Earth is plunged into eternal night, nocturnal monsters emerge, threatening the ecosystem. Through their fanciful, almost naive appearance, the drawings depict a silent and endearing story about friendship and solidarity.
The ghost who wanted to existFrançois Blais and Iris Boudreau (Like Giants)
The departure of François Blais left our souls frozen, he who, through his creativity and a humor as cynical as it was benevolent, had gotten into the habit of breaking down barriers. His latest album, posthumous, reminds us of the luminous brand of his art, depicting the existential quest of a ghost who wishes to leave the “Great Nowhere” to exist. Iridescent by the poise and imagination of Iris Boudreau, the audacity of this ghost embodies the triumph of an irresistible desire to live.
