Vincent Gélinas-Lemaire specializes in French literature from 1945 to the present, with a particular focus on the representation of space and catastrophe in narratives. After studies in architecture, he has obtained an M.A. in French literature from the Université de Montréal, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University. His first monograph, Le Récit architecte : cinq aspects de l’espace, was published by Classiques Garnier, Paris, in 2019. It offers new tools to describe and contrast the creation of fictional environments, large and small, through the particular means of storytelling.

His current book project explores the resurgence of the poetics of ruin in contemporary novels. It aims to map the literary and cultural roots of the motif, in both the past and present, and to expand its scope to account for all forms of contagion between collapsing spaces, bodies, societies, history.

Dr. Gélinas-Lemaire has also published numerous articles and book chapters dedicated to Québécois and Franco-Canadian authors, from the Révolution tranquille to the present.

Interests

• French Literature (1945 to the present)
• Literatures of Québec and Francophone Canada
• Comparative Literature
• Spatial Poetics
• Poetics of Ruin and Catastrophe

Current Projects

• Narratives of the Fall: Contemporary Poetics of Ruin – SSHRC Insight Grant (2021-2026)

Book

Le Récit architecte : cinq aspects de l’espace, Classiques Garnier, coll. “Théorie de la littérature,” Paris, France, 226 pages. 2019.

Edited Book

Études françaises n°56.1 (editor) : “Le monde en ruines : espaces brisés de la littérature contemporaine,” Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 132 pages. 2020.

Selected Publications

“California Dreamin’ : Trois variations sur le lieu,” in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies : SITES n°28.4, University of Connecticut, p. 569-584. 2024.

“Rôde de Minotaure : formes et poétique de la divagation dans quelques récits labyrinthiques,” in Revue de la Société d’Études de la Littérature Française du XXe siècle (ELFe XX-XXI), n°13, Paris, 10 pages. 2024.

“Préface,” in L’Oiseau bleu, Revue internationale du conte et de la littérature de jeunesse, n°7, Université de Lille, 4 pages. 2024.

“De boue et d’os : vers une poétique de l’érosion dans le contemporain,” in Santa Bañeres and Medina Arjona (ed.), Cahiers de l’AIEF, n°75, Paris, p. 141-155. 2023.

“Les ruines qui se font : Témoigner de la catastrophe dans Carnets de Homs de Littell,” in Mecke and Donnarieix (ed.), La délocalisation du roman français, Peter Lang, Bern. 2020.

“As the World Falls Apart: Living Through the Apocalypse in Le Poids de la neige and Oscar de Profundis,” in Moraru, Simek and Westphal (ed.), Francophone Literatures as World Literature, Bloomsbury, New York, p. 226-250. 2020.

“Introduction critique” and “Tout dissoudre : la poétique de la ruine dans Charøgnards de Stéphane Vanderhaeghe,” in Études françaises n°56.1, op. cit., p. 5-13 and p. 77-90. 2020.

“The Narrative Lives of Places: Literature as an Architecture,” in Contemporary French and Francophone Studies : SITES n°22.4, U. of Connecticut, p. 454-462. 2018.

“Note bibliographique sur les prolongements du Roman à thèse,” in Suleiman, Susan R., Le Roman à thèse ou l’autorité fictive, 2nd ed., Classiques Garnier, Paris, p. 263-266. 2018.

“Poétiques du local et du global : Marie-Claire Blais, Hubert Aquin et Réjean Ducharme juxtaposés,” in Verstraete-H., Lisbeth (ed.), Écrire le monde en langue française, Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, p. 147-160. 2017.

“Va savoir de Réjean Ducharme : une poétique de l’espace,” in Interférences littéraires/Literaire Interferenties n°13, Université Catholique de Louvain, p. 39-50. 2014.

Dr. Gélinas-Lemaire will be occupying the position of Resident Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Université de Lyon for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Currently accepting graduate students for supervision.