La présence intertextuelle d'Ernest Hemingway dans trois romans de Jacques Poulin

• Main Author: Bernovsky, Victor
• Language: French
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42674

Our study is inspired by the ideas of the philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin on dialogism and relates to the presence of Ernest Hemingway in the novels of Jacques Poulin: Volkswagen blues, Le vieux chagrin and Les yeux bleus de Mistassini. It analyses the intertextual relationship between the works of Hemingway and Poulin. The concept of dialogism in the work of the Quebec writer manifests itself in the relationship between the discourses and their interdependence. Furthermore, this concept manifests itself in the link between writing and reading, as well as in the personality of the writers/ characters. The discourse on writing crosses the novels in this study and particularly feeds on the intertexts Papa Hemingway, the biography written by A. E. Hotchner, and A Moveable Feast, the quasi-autobiography of Hemingway. We have established a comparison between Volkswagen blues, Le vieux chagrin and Les yeux bleus de Mistassini based upon the forms of references to Hemingway, and determined that the biographical fragments outnumber the paraphrases in each of these novels. A fictional Hemingway intertext of great importance in Poulin’s work is The Old Man And The Sea. Its discourse draws thematic parallels with novels of the Quebec writer. It shares with them the themes of solitude, dignity, affection, friendship, loyalty and the pursuit of happiness. As for the relevance of the Hemingway intertexts in the analysed novels of Poulin, we have determined that Papa Hemingway proves itself as the most useful intertext in the interpretation of Volkswagen blues and Le vieux chagrin. The contribution of Papa Hemingway in the creation of Les yeux bleus de Mistassini is similar to that of A Moveable Feast.