In this illuminating essay, Neil Bissoondath explores the powerful influence exerted by narrative on the human psyche. Storytelling is a primary activity in the human experience. The stories that we tell ourselves, as well as those we hear from others, help to answer the question of who we are, "as individuals, as familial beings, as social beings." On a deeper level, stories are also subtle forms of confession. They reveal our dreams and desires, our fears and fantasies, our hurts and pleasures.

Sifting through history, Bissoondath examines how governments, both totalitarian and democratic, have sought to control and to simplify narrative. Novelists, to different and contradictory ends, have used narrative as a sphere of exploration and discovery, where questions are numerous and answers are rare. Fiction, suggests Bissoondath, is a subtle, yet powerful narrative form, unsurpassed in its ability to confirm human complexity and to affirm human existence.

Dans cet essai édifiant, Neil Bissoondath explore la puissante influence qu’exerce la narration sur la psyché humaine. Raconter des histoires est une activité primordiale dans l’expérience humaine. Les histoires que nous-mêmes racontons, de même que celles que nous entendons raconter par d’autres, nous aident à répondre à la question de savoir qui nous sommes « en tant que personnes, en tant que membres d’une famille, en tant qu’êtres sociables ». À un niveau plus profond, les histoires sont aussi une forme subtile de confessions. Elles révèlent nos rêves et nos désirs, nos peurs et nos fantasmes, ce qui nous blesse ou nous fait plaisir.

Puisant des exemples dans l’histoire, Bissoondath examine comment les gouvernements, tant totalitaires que démocratiques, ont cherché à contrôler et à simplifier la narration. Les romanciers, quant à eux, ont utilisé la narration à des fins différentes et contradictoires comme une sphère d’exploration et de découvertes, où les questions sont nombreuses et où les réponses sont rares. Bissoondath suggère que la fiction est une forme de narration subtile mais néanmoins puissante, qui est sans égale dans sa capacité à confirmer la complexité des hommes et à affirmer l’existence humaine.

Neil Bissoondath is the author of two short story collections, Digging Up the Mountains and On The Eve Of Uncertain Tomorrows, and five novels, A Casual Brutality, The Innocence of Age, Doing the Heart Good, The Unyielding Clamour of Night, and The Soul of All Great Designs. His fiction has been nominated for many prizes, including The Guardian Fiction Prize, the Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has twice won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and once won the Canadian Authors Association Prize for Fiction. His non-fiction book, Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada (1994) won the Gordon Montador Award.

Originally from Trinidad, Neil now lives in Quebec City with his wife and daughter. He is a professor in the Département des literatures at Université Laval.  

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"One of Canada's most celebrated writers."

<i>Ottawa Citizen</i>