At the end of the 47e edition of the Montreal Book Fair, the question arises. Reduced rate on the purchase of a multi-day passport, free access on Wednesdays and Thursdays upon presentation of a subscription card to a City of Montreal library, collaborative activities between literary and educational circles, discussion sessions usual dedications, poetry brigade at the Mont-Royal metro station… the programming coordinators went to great lengths to arouse the interest of an audience that was both multi-generational and volatile. By focusing on diverse literary activities, the management of the event fulfilled its mandate which consisted, in part, of making books from the French-speaking Quebec publishing world and the broader Francophonie accessible. A mandate that the Quebec government seems to have abandoned in recent months. Because he will say it doesn’t belong to him. Because he has turned the page.
However, in order to ensure its survival in seas that are still too unknown, the literary world is desperately seeking a lifeline: that of support from the population and the government.
A container without new content
Quebec recently declared itself in favor of staggering austerity regarding the supply of new literary corpora and documentary resources in CEGEP libraries. These draconian measures were passed over in silence in the wake of budget cuts to the development of post-secondary infrastructures. In a world where the housing crisis persists and where galloping inflation in food costs accelerates weekly, it has become wise for the leaders of our province to make cuts to even what nourishes the imagination of students.
In short, we are being asked to invest in a container without new content. These same politicians are committed, we are told, to academic success, which guarantees successful professional integration into the job market or an easy transition to university. Probably because the average price of a book in Quebec hovers around $20, an expense that is probably too expensive and would not reflect the government’s conservative values.
It is a mistake to take the accessibility of books for granted in a society that wants to be open to literary and scientific culture.
L’Quebec survey on the discovery of cultural products and digital technologyin its most recent version, of September 23, 2024, is categorical to this effect: physical consultation in bookstores, stores or libraries ranks third (64%) of the means used to discover books by Internet users of 15 years and over in Quebec. The discoverability of titles therefore depends, among other things, on the locations in which available works are located. For the 15 to 29 age group, the statistics rise to 70%.
Let’s be clear: depriving young people of this access constitutes an obstacle to literary discoveries and, ultimately, to the development of their reading skills. This approach also means that we find it acceptable to slow down students in the adventure of documentary research, even though it is so imperative in a pre-university environment.
Disappearing gestures
The book and its materiality play a mediating role in literary exploration. Stroll through a library, browse the shelves, blindly search for a title, compare editions of classics, smell the scent of the new pages of a freshly found book, crack the binding, furtively leaf through it to savor the end , these are gestures which will appear, if they have not already done so, from now on to be obsolete in the eyes of tomorrow’s generation. Entries of titles in search engines will serve as a mechanical substitute for romantic strolling. After all, in the eyes of the government, what is the point of developing openness to others and critical thinking by reading tangible documents if capitalist casualness can replace it?
We quickly seem to forget that reading on paper allows people to take a break from the hyperconnectivity that blindly binds them to daily automated reflexes. In doing so, we seem to forget that literature courses in post-secondary institutions constitute a safe place to nourish this appetite. It is in these sacred places that the visit to distant fictional universes, the ability to dream a little, is still possible.
This excitement remains well known to adults, but it is threatened among younger people. Through these new measures, we convey the message to students who are already getting bogged down in their courses that books are not worthy of being purchased and that ultimately their acquisition no longer has any place in educational establishments. pre-university education in Quebec.
For Quebec society, reading remains a question of values. It is high time to speak out in favor of our cultural and literary heritage, which has an unparalleled richness. This is where you have to invest.
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