Rabelais, a Creole, Acadian, and Quebecois writer Reflections on a transfer of literary history (drawing on Patrick Chamoiseau, Antonine Maillet, and Roch Carrier)

A certain number of authors writing in French from the Caribbean or North America consider themselves Rabelais’s inheritors, placing the author of Gargantua at the origin of francophone literary history. This article reflects on the reasons for this appropriation and specifically looks at why Rabelais’s importance is emphasized by humanist authors, as well as examining his status (a simple tutelary figure, an author that is read?), which varies considerably from case to case.