L’écrivain fictif au Québec et dans l’oeuvre de Gérard Bessette

Abstract

Since the Ancient World, artists are used to represent themselves in their works and this kind of representations clearly surpasses the limits of a self-portrait. We are now living in the period of extreme narcissism and individualism when personal intimacy is spread in all kinds of Medias. It can’t be surprising that the figure of the creator is still in the middle of interest of literary production in Quebec and everywhere else. From 139 novels published in Quebec during the literary season 2009, 10 percent is based on fictional writer. One of the most productive Quebec writers obsessed by the figure of the writer was Gérard Bessette, an important Quebec author, literary critic and university professor who played a big part in the evolution of the Quebec literature. Fictions from his first, traditional cycle are introducing the nascent writer; fictions from his second, modern cycle are substituting the fictional writer by the fictional storyteller; and his latest postmodern cycle fictions are going back to the fictional writer approaching his own death. The writing character is getting older according to his originator. Nevertheless, he is always the same.