Sur la littérature cadienne / On Cajun Literature

Dr. Olivier Marteau "Une littérature minoritaire francophone dans le sud de la Louisiane : Le pari de la création d’un champ littéraire (1980-2006)"
(University of Louisiana at Lafayette, avril 2007, 325 p.)

ABSTRACT The dissertation explores the emergence of a new generation of Cajun writers through Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of “champ littéraire” and “instances de légitimation.” In 1980, a small group of activist leaders began to write literature in French again, after a half-century hiatus, in order to preserve the rapidly eroding community values and Cajun culture in general. Indeed, modernity caused an undeniable challenge for the Louisiana Francophone community, whose number of speakers has been decreasing with each generation. Since this new generation of Cajun writers became painfully aware that the oral transmission of French traditions was in danger, they created poetry, plays, and novels as a political and pedagogical response to the pressure of Americanization. The self-actualization formula stated in essence that the future of French in Louisiana is possible: “All we have to do is write it ourselves!” Today, this corpus contains more than 900 texts, but their access remains limited. Even if the writers created an editorial collection, a journal and few anthologies, and developed internal institutions (events, awards, university courses, etc.), they represent only a small group of individuals who have to fight to edit and distribute their corpus. The local public is non-existent, a reality that has forced the writers to find new strategies to export their creation. Nonetheless, they created an original corpus and strategically sought to defend their own specificity within the Francophone world. In the 1990s, some of them signed with various Canadian editors. Locally they preferred to support the creation of song lyrics for a community who doesn’t read French. Today, this new literature continues its own development, but it remains fragile.

Marteau, Olivier. Licence d’Histoire, University of Orleans, France, Spring 1991; Master in Contemporary History, University of Paris I – La Sorbonne, Spring 1992; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Spring 2007
Major: Francophone Studies
Title of Dissertation: Une littérature minoritaire francophone dans le sud de la Louisiane: Le pari de la création d’un champ littéraire (1980-2006)
Dissertation Directors: Dr. Barry Jean Ancelet and Dr. Fabrice Leroy
Pages in Dissertation: 334; Words in Abstract: 343

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