Soif de styles: pour un accroissement d’existence

Abstract

This article is a personal account of Gaëtan Brulotte’s conception of literary creation as a Canadian francophone writer. Using his latest collection of short stories as his starting point, Brulotte takes the reader behind the scenes of the writing of La contagion du réel (2014), which received the Grand Prix de littérature Gérald-Godin in 2015. This account most notably reveals the sources of inspiration for the collection and certain aspects related to the origins of the stories. The author defines the meaning of the title by distinguishing between positive and negative contagion and between “Real” and “Reality,” a point at the heart of his creative enterprise, whereby Reality is infinitely more variable than the Real. While adopting the point of view of the author, Brulotte also examines the main themes of his collection and underscores what literature means to him. Here, he also shares his experience as a writer of a literary genre that has its own aesthetic particularities. In a condensed version of his vision of creative writing, he finally touches on the importance that the narrative form and style holds in his writings and how, for him, this aspect is a vital force that shapes and gives style to our existence as a whole.