{"id":14162,"date":"2015-02-02T11:26:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T16:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=14162"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:42:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:42:50","slug":"quebec-city-colonial-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2015\/quebec-city-colonial-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec City as a Colonial Capital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Quebec City as a Colonial Capital\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n
\"Jean-Louis-Baptiste
Jean-Louis-Baptiste Franquelin, Carte de l’Am\u00e9rique septentrionale (1688)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carleton students have the chance to travel to Quebec City during the 2015 Spring semester to embark on an extraordinary learning journey that has become an annual tradition in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, 2015 will mark the fourth year that two courses \u2013 one housed in the School of Canadian Studies<\/a>, and the other, part of the Department of French<\/a> \u2013 proceed on a trip to Quebec City as an opportunity to explore first-hand, notions of comparative Canadian identity, colonial literature and history in a very distinct culture that exists within the greater context of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Students<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This particular article will explore the Department of French<\/a>\u2019s Professor S\u00e9bastien C\u00f4t\u00e9\u2019s seminar (FREN4300\/5501) Litt\u00e9rature et culture de la Nouvelle-France: S\u00e9minaire d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 Qu\u00e9bec <\/em>which revisits, within the old walls of Quebec City, the literature and culture of New France (1534-1763).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the goals of the seminar is to experience this spectacular city and its institutions, in order to transcribe to the students information that can\u2019t really be described in a textbook,\u201d says C\u00f4t\u00e9. \u201cI want them to achieve a feeling of the distance between now and the colonial era of New France, a time that remains abstract to most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much has been said about Quebec City as the former capital of New France. Since the \u201cVieille Capitale\u201d was once a \u201cville neuve,\u201d competing narratives are not a new phenomenon. In fact, it could be traced all the way back to the famous \u201cFather of New France,\u201d Samuel de Champlain. Describing Quebec City as early as 1608, Champlain chronicled the construction of his two abitations<\/em> \u2013 the harsh daily life of the first settlers and their interactions with the First Nations of the Saint Lawrence Valley, as well as the endemic food shortage. This narrative shares little in common with the experience of travelers and historians from the 18th century who conceived a very different city. From a tiny trading post, over the years it had grown into a superb place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Richard
Richard Short, Cathedral, Jesuits College, and Recollets Friars Church (1761)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the best-known descriptions of the city as it stood at the time Franquelin drew his map (see above) is found in the Baron de Lahontan\u2019s Nouveaux voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique septentrionale<\/em> [New voyages to North-America<\/em>] (1703): \u201cQuebec<\/em> is divided into the upper and lower City. The Merchants live in the latter, for the conveniency of the Harbor; upon which they have built very fine houses, of a sort of Stone that\u2019s as hard as Marble. The upper or high City is full as populous, and as well adorn\u2019d as the lower.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If anything, the dichotomies on Quebec City have only gotten more abundant in our present context, leaving many Canadians with misconstrued, inaccurate or even vacant ideas of Quebec\u2019s capital and the history of New France. Whether for geographical or linguistic reasons, the coverage in the Canadian historical story probably isn\u2019t as prevalent as it should be or, to say the least, hasn\u2019t held the same symbolic importance everywhere in Canada \u2013 hence the necessity of this experiential course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why C\u00f4t\u00e9 stresses the importance for students to be given an opportunity to spend ten days living in the marvelous context of Quebec City. Accordingly, he likes to remind his students that modern Canada wasn\u2019t created out of the blue in 1867!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Au contraire<\/em>, it has a complex, double colonial history: \u201cWe tend to forget that Canada was a hot topic in France since Jacques Cartier\u2019s first voyage in 1534-35. It is mentioned in 16th and 17th century prose fiction, for example in Marguerite de Navarre\u2019s Heptam\u00e9ron<\/em> (1558-59) and Fran\u00e7ois de Rosset\u2019s Les histoires m\u00e9morables et tragiques de ce temps <\/em>(1614). Even poet Jean de La Fontaine refers to the famous Filles du Roy<\/em> in his correspondence (Chinard 1913: 302, note 1). In the first half of the 18th century, soon after the publication of the Baron de Lahontan\u2019s works in 1703, Parisian theatres went frenzy for Canada and the figure of the noble savage. Now, unfortunately, most of these plays are forgotten on both sides of the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequently, one of the Seminar\u2019s goals is to bring back to life some of these comedies whose titles speak from themselves: L\u2019\u00eele du Gougou<\/em> (1720), Arlequin sauvage<\/em> (1721), Les mariages de Canada<\/em> (1734) or Les Indes galantes<\/em> (1735).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"View
View of the Ursulines Convent<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for students of both seminars<\/a>, the city has gone to tremendous lengths to persevere and value its past. Quebec City is visually stunning, the architecture connects the past to the modern, and its century-old institutions have kept precious archival materials. As Jillian Harper, a student of the 2014 French edition, puts it: \u201cWhen I think about the history of pre-Confederation Canada and what we have learned about it in High School, it seems to me that Quebecers are not only interested in wars and the establishment of colonial forts and cities, but also in cultural transfer in the form of literature. This leaves us with traces of ancient ways of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Basilique-cath\u00e9drale
Basilique-cath\u00e9drale Notre-Dame de Qu\u00e9bec (2013)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Prior to their departure, students will be introduced to the history of New France and its textual production through appropriate readings and lectures. They will also learn how to read and transcribe a manuscript from the early 18th century, a newly acquired skill that will prove useful on site. Indeed, they spend some time in the Archives du S\u00e9minaire de Qu\u00e9bec, where archivist Peter Gagn\u00e9 gives an impressive talk that helps them to better understand the reality of writing with goose feathers, communicating across the Atlantic and archiving documents in the early years of New France. They are presented with unique hand-written registers, marriage contracts dating from the 1630s, wills, letters (some of them very surprising), maps, architectural drawings, personal diaries and poems. For example, last year Gagn\u00e9 showed the group a 17th century note in the student register of the Petit S\u00e9minaire (founded by Bishop Fran\u00e7ois de Laval in 1668), stating that the founder\u2019s nephew \u201clacked vocation\u201d in his studies. \u201cNext time, says C\u00f4t\u00e9, I will try to find out what the Jesuits thought about the dedication of my ancestors!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"2014
2014 students making the most of their time in Quebec City.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Apart from the many institutional visits and guided tours, the 2015 French edition will include the student\u2019s participation, as auditors, in the 45th annual conference of the North American Society for 17th Century French Literature (NASSCFL<\/a>), in which C\u00f4t\u00e9 is responsible for the session \u201cErrances en Nouvelle-France.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C\u00f4t\u00e9 hopes these fascinating learning endeavours get students to simply talk about the complex colonial history of our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about Litt\u00e9rature et culture de la Nouvelle-France S\u00e9minaire d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 Qu\u00e9bec, <\/em>including where\/how to enroll, please click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rue
Rue Carleton in Quebec City.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carleton students have the chance to travel to Quebec City during the 2015 Spring semester to embark on an extraordinary learning journey that has become an annual tradition in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Indeed, 2015 will mark the fourth year that two courses \u2013 one housed in the School of Canadian Studies, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-14162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-french","tag-quebec-city"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34297,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14162\/revisions\/34297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}