Voyages sans retour: les nouvelles de Mavis Gallant

The author notes that Montreal writer Mavis Gallant (1922-2014) is often studied as an expatriate author whose work is centered on the Elsewhere, and for good reason. One glance at the titles of her short stories – The Other Paris, In Transit, Paris Stories, Going Ashore – reveals the important role that travelling plays in her imaginary. However, the author contends, Gallant’s writing also carries within it a persistent and complex discourse concerning “home,” home presenting itself sometimes as Canada and sometimes as Québec. The author examines the relationship between “home” and the Elsewhere, first in Gallant’s fiction itself, but also in the introductions, the prefaces and in interviews in which she reflects on her own writing. In these latter meditations, the author notes that Gallant frequently employed travel figures which should be taken into consideration in all analyses of her work. Working with the Home Truths collection, the author focuses on the short stories in which characters who leave for Europe end up returning to Canada. At the same time, the author examines characters who are seen to return to Montreal after spending years in New York. The author argues that if Gallant’s stories are rarely autobiographical, they offer, nonetheless, indirect references to her personal journeys through a continuous exploration of delocalization. In this context, the author claims that “home” inevitably becomes an unstable category. Given that such instability has already been studied in relation to exile, the author focuses instead on questions surrounding fiction and travel figures found in Gallant’s work.

Voix et Images

Vol. 48

no. 2

57-69

Hiver 2023

fr