What Filiation Narrative for Canadian Inuit?

• Published in: Cahiers Erta
• Main Author: Voldřichová-Beránková, Eva
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2019
• Subjects: Inuit novel; French literature; filiation narratives; memory; third sex; roman inuit; littérature française; récit de filiation; mémoire; troisième sexe; Canada; inuit; inuits
• Online Access: https://czasopisma.bg.ug.edu.pl/index.php/CE/article/view/3583; https://doi.org/10.4467/23538953CE.19.021.11068

The rise of filiation narratives, observed in France since the end of the 1970s and confirmed by the publication of Annie Ernaux's A Man´s Place (1983) and Pierre Michon's Small Lives (1984), is contemporary with the "symbolic birth" of French or English speaking Inuit literature in Canada. Through the analysis of certain "founding works" of the Inuit novel (namely Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie Patsauq and Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk), the article expands on its thematic, generic and axiological similarities as well as its differences compared to the European model. It also outlines the subsequent evolution of the genre through new generations of Inuit writers (Alice Masak French, Mini Aodla Freeman, Norma Dunning, Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak or Aviaq Johnston). The rise of filiation narratives, observed in France since the end of the 1970s and confirmed by the publication of Annie Ernaux's A Man´s Place (1983) and Pierre Michon's Small Lives (1984), is contemporary with the "symbolic birth" of French or English speaking Inuit literature in Canada. Through the analysis of certain "founding works" of the Inuit novel (namely Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie Patsauq and Sanaaq by Mitiarjuk Attasie Nappaaluk), the article expands on its thematic, generic and axiological similarities as well as its differences compared to the European model. It also outlines the subsequent evolution of the genre through new generations of Inuit writers (Alice Masak French, Mini Aodla Freeman, Norma Dunning, Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak or Aviaq Johnston).