Literature and Painting in Quebec
William J. Berg
This unique study explores how Quebec's landscapes have been represented in both literature and visual art throughout the centuries, from the writing of early explorers such as Cartier and Champlain to work by prominent contemporary authors and artists from the province. William J. Berg traces recurrent images and themes within these creations through the most significant periods in the development of a Quebecois identity that was threatened initially by the wilderness and indigenous populations, and later by the dominance of British and American influences.
Focusing on the interplay between nature and culture in landscape representation, Literature and Painting in Quebec contends that both have reflected and fashioned the meaning of French-Canadian nationhood. As such, Literature and Painting in Quebec presents a new perspective to approach the notion of national identity, a quest that few groups have engaged in more persistently than the Quebecois.
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About William J. Berg
Reviews for Literature and Painting in Quebec
A.M. Rea
Choice Magazine vol 50:06:2013
‘This well-written and well-documented interdisciplinary study, juxtaposing literary and pictorial representations of the Quebec countryside... convincingly makes the case for the importance of landscape for understanding the Quebec psyche.’
Warren Johnson
The French Review, 88:1:2014
‘This is a hefty tome that does honor to its ambition with impressive feats of reading and looking and offers a useful compendium of key texts and paintings for scholarship... a welcome addition to the body of work on art and literature in Québec as an overview of the field and as a foundation for other approaches.’
William L. Coleman
American Review of Canadian Studies, 44:3:2014
‘William J. Berg provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of many works by Quebec visual and verbal artists… The quality of Berg’s analysis of particular works of painting and literature is impeccable.’
Louise H. Forsyth
University of Toronto Quarterly, 83:2: 2014