Book and print in Quebec

With six published volumes of La vie litteraire au Quebec, three for the Histoire de l'edition litteraire au Quebec au xxe siecle and three others for the Histoire du livre et de l'imprime au Canada, not to mention the eight available volumes of the Dictionnaire des oeuvres litteraires du Quebec and the Dictionnaire de la censure au Quebec, the local production of books and print is impressive. Organized around teams formed in the province's major universities, notably, Laval, Montreal and Sherbrooke, research has expanded through its refusal to conform to a conventional definition of literature. Sensitive to the flourishing of writing in almanacs or in the press, in libraries or in popular circles, researchers have generated a wealth of approaches based on history or sociology and have thus helped renew literary studies in Quebec. Because they form an integral part of international research networks, book and print specialists have substantially increased the seminars and meetings that can shed new light on reading and writing practices. Whether it's detective fiction or Harlequin romances, best sellers or contemporary plays, all forms of cultural consumption retain the attention of Quebec researchers, which explains the broad diversity of the works reviewed here.