Title: An Inquiry into the Identity Crisis via the Love Narrative of Kamouraska

Abstract: The novel Kamouraska, based on a real murder in Canada was written by Anne Hébert, a famous Canadian female writer. Hébert embellished the murder with romantic love, then a multiple and non-linear narrative, between dream and reality, past and present, showing the heroine Elizabeth’s rebellious love and her uncontrollable fate. The materials and background of the novel are closely related to the history of Quebec, Canada. The love narrative, in fact, implies the history of the struggle of the French Canadians and the dilemma of their national identity. From the perspective of feminism, this paper aims to explore the narrative skills behind the love theme and the perplexity of identity in women’s discourse. In the meanwhile, by connecting the love narrative with the historical writing, this paper explores the cultural identity crisis of the French Canadians in the context of the text.

Keywords: Kamouraska, love narrative, historical writing, French Canadians, identity crisis

Author: Qi Feng, Lecturer, Research Center of Literature, Education and Cultural Communication, School of Literature, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.