Abstract
This article explores the conte urbain as practiced by Yvan Bienvenue, winner of the Governor General's Award for 1997. This new hybrid dramatic form combines the monologue and the traditional oral tale, using a mixture of popular language and poetic speech. Although marked by their dark vision, obscenities, graphic sexuality, and nightmarish violence, these contes urbains carry clear messages about social values and appropriate human behaviour. By using different linguistic registers, he underscores the tensions that arise when everyday language fails to express inner needs and aspirations. Yvan Bienvenue's work reminds us that popular language--with its vulgarity, anglicisms, grammatical incorrectness, and impoverished vocabulary--reflects the failures of contemporary society and the longing for personal happiness.
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