The world of Quebec poetry is in mourning for one of its most dazzling contemporary voices. The poet and publisher Jean-Sébastien Larouche probably took his own life on Wednesday evening at the age of 51, we learned Thursday through the wave of testimonies delivered by his friends and colleagues on social networks. “He was the favorite poet of so many people,” testifies with emotion his friend and collaborator Carl Bessette, who confirmed the news to us.
“He was so loved in the industry, it makes no sense all the love that people had for him,” assures writer Carl Bessette, with whom Larouche founded Éditions de l’Écrou in 2009. “In at this moment, I find myself with poets who have worked with him; they all told me: Jean-Sébastien was the poet of our generation. No one has carried the voice of this generation more, and for the people who came after, the great thing that JS did was say: there is no difference between the way I say my texts and the way the reader will read them. »
Because Jean-Sébastien Larouche first distinguished himself by bringing his texts to the stage, says the novelist and poet Maxime Catellier. “Larouche is perhaps the first Quebec poet that I read, at an age when I was reading Baudelaire and Rimbaud; I met Jean-Sébastien when I arrived in Montreal, during poetry reading evenings. It’s hard to imagine today the stage power of this guy. He took the microphone like a punk singer from the 1970s who was about to destroy everything. »
Originally from Sainte-Foy, Larouche immersed himself early in poetry, words on paper as well as those delivered in front of an audience. Lanctôt publisher publishes its first three collections: The pawn shop from hell (1997), Rose and razor (1998) et Dacnoman (2000, finalist for the Émile-Nelligan Prize).
Active on stage spoken wordin 2007 he won the first edition of the National Poetry Grand Slam and the following year represented Quebec at the Poetry Slam World Cup, which took place in France.
Éditions de l’Écrou, a springboard
With Bessette, Jean-Sébastien Larouche founded Éditions de l’Écrou in 2009, a detonator of Quebec poetry which published a number of first works, including those of Marjolaine Beauchamp (To the plexuses2010), Maude Veilleux (The things of love at sea2013) and Jean-Christophe Réhel (Blue sex gorillas2014).
“I had suffered dozens and dozens of refusals when sending my manuscripts to publishing houses: he gave me my first chance,” says Réhel. “I understood years later that he didn’t particularly like my book, but that it was me he loved. He always said to me: Réhel, your ostia of poetry of clean floors, can you instead dig into your guts to write something that makes you vibrate? It was he who taught me to write poetry, not for flasherbut to speak real business. Jean-Sébastien was always like that: he loved hard-hitting texts that stripped his skin and his heart, but he also loved this brotherhood, even if he was a great loner. »
Maxime Catellier insists on the “non-literary” dimension of Larouche’s approach, recalling that Éditions de l’Écrou refused to ask for government subsidies and that the deceased financed his house from his salary as a worker in a malt factory.
“He went against the grain of the publishing world, wanted nothing to do with it,” assures Catellier. “And one thing is certain: Jean-Sébastien brought lots of people who had not thought of doing literature to do it. Because of his influence, in the last 30 years, I can’t think of anyone else who is as important as him. We cannot know what will remain of what we write in 20, 30, 50 years, but if there is one person whose texts I am sure we will read for a long time, it is Larouche. »
Carl Bessette believes that his friend “revolutionized” Quebec poetry “by being the first to say: ‘I want what you feel when I am on stage to be the same thing as what you will receive when reading my books. ” He not only did it for himself, but then as a publisher. With each poet, he insisted: “Read your text aloud, we will listen to you, then we will make sure that it is written in the book as you say it.” That was very important to him. »
Lengths in the Styxthe latest collection by Jean-Sébastien Larouche, was published in 2018 by l’Écrou. His birthday is February 2, “and on that day, we will organize a big celebration of his life, with poets who will read his texts,” promises Bessette. “He’s been so many people’s number one poet for 30 years, but JS couldn’t get all the love. It’s a real shock today. »
