Round and About the Bande Dessinée Québécoise

Abstract

What follows is an attempt to contextualise the bandes dessinées produced in Quebec from their early beginnings in the late nineteenth century to their renewal and expansion during the years immediately following the Quiet Revolution. The intention, above all, is to give a sense of a changing intellectual, artistic and cultural landscape, and to situate the creators of comic strips within it. In fact, as will become evident, the history of Quebec's comic strips is closely linked to the history of the province and in many ways reflects it. (As we will see, the all-pervasive influence of the Catholic Church and the rise of Quebec nationalism can be traced in the development of the bande dessinée.) Necessarily, given the scope of the topic and the limited space available, the attempted coverage will be sketchy and incomplete. Moreover, it is only right to point out that its author is very much a novice in the field of the comic strip. Nevertheless, it is hoped that - to use an appropriate metaphor - a broader picture and different perspectives will emerge for those unfamiliar with the history of Quebec, and that new avenues of research will be prompted.