Une étude de la littérature francophone de la Colombie-Britannique

This thesis analyzes a body of British Columbia's literature written in French between 1980 and 2004. Chapter one analyzes the influence of modernity on this emerging literature, its themes and formal devices. Chapter two studies traits of marginalization. The sense of alienation common to the fictive characters is attributable, in part, to the modernity of the urban setting (Vancouver). Rehabilitation is more likely among protagonists who elect to leave the city, while those, who choose to remain, risk succumbing. Balance is found by embracing the destiny of the wanderer and conjuring memory of archetypes. Chapter three details the work of Marguerite Primeau and Monique Genuist, two major British Columbian French writers. In their novels and short stories, while nature is central to survival of the characters, wandering is both a source of emancipation and an homage to heterogeneity in the modern world.