Reading, Evaluating and Commemorating Feminism : Excluding and Reviving Dynamics of L'Euguélionne’s Reception in Québec

My doctoral research relies on the premise that political books are more than a receptacle of movement ideas. They are texts that reveal and put words on felt oppression; they are works that resist artistic norms and often challenges literary institutions; and they are objects that can garner solidarity amongst readers and nurture one’s connection to the movement. In other words, I understand political books – reading them, evaluating them, commemorating them – as a way in which culture shapes our political imagination. Québec's feminist novel L’Euguélionne is a good example of this type of political book. Published in 1976 as Louky Bersianik’s debut novel, it was a critically acclaimed and best-selling book that also received vitriol for its ideological commitments. Over time, it became a forgotten classic known only amongst small reception communities, until 2016, when a new feminist bookstore borrowed its name. Using L’Euguélionne as a point of departure, my doctoral research traces the cultural trajectory of this feminist artistic production to enhance our understanding about the ways in which feminist ideas are critiqued and undermined, but also circulated and kept alive. The dissertation raises three central questions: How is feminist art received by masculine gatekeepers of art worlds? What does the reception and revival of feminist art make possible for activists as they attempt to renew the movement? How does friendship shape intergenerational transmission of feminist art? Methodologically, my approach to the study of L’Euguélionne proposes to consider reception like ethnographers would a city sidewalk (Duneier 1999) or an Argentinian neighbourhood (Auyero 2015). This involves looking at the complex dynamics that characterize the site, what I term the push and pull of cultural reception, mapping the connections between actors, and paying close attention to forms of activism that happen under the radar. This approach complements more conventional studies of cultural reception and could be used by scholars interested in how critical appraisal of political art shapes public discourse about social movements, how consumption of art can fuel activism, and how consecration affects the diffusion of political ideas and shapes intergenerational movement dynamics.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.