Auteure<\/a><\/u> \u00e0 l\u2019esprit lucide et engag\u00e9, elle s\u2019int\u00e9resse aux litt\u00e9ratures de l\u2019imaginaire, qu\u2019elle enseigne et \u00e9tudie, en se sp\u00e9cialisant sur l\u2019enjeu des m\u00e9taphores dans l\u2019\u0153uvre d\u2019Ursula Le Guin. Avec cette entrevue r\u00e9alis\u00e9e par Francesca Robitaille, qui en a \u00e9t\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9tudiante, on vous invite \u00e0 venir \u00e0 la rencontre de Kate et \u00e0 la d\u00e9couvrir avant son arriv\u00e9e officielle dans le projet. Vous remarquerez que l\u2019article passe du fran\u00e7ais \u00e0 l\u2019anglais, de l\u2019anglais au fran\u00e7ais, mais on ne vous dira pas ce qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 traduit (ou pas); on vous laisse le deviner!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Rebonjour, Kate! \u00c7a me fait tr\u00e8s plaisir de te revoir!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Rebonjour, Francesca! Heureuse de te retrouver!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Et pour commencer, allons-y avec la base\u00a0: qu\u2019aimes-tu le plus dans la lecture de la science-fiction et de la fantasy?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Je suis ambivalente quant \u00e0 mes rapports avec la science-fiction et la fantasy. Je m\u2019en tiendrai principalement au premier genre, car je m\u2019y connais bien mieux en science-fiction. La science-fiction est un genre divis\u00e9, puisque les membres de la communaut\u00e9 qui \u00e9volue autour ne s\u2019entendent pas tous sur les crit\u00e8res qui font la SF.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Photo_Kate_Sheckler_-_Cre_dit_Audrey_Schafer-300x225.jpg\")
Cr\u00e9dit : Audrey Schafer<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
My interest in science fiction comes from how it offers different kinds of horizons, like the name Horizons imaginaires<\/em> suggests. In writing science-fiction, you can toss out the world to some degree – which is the foundation of science-fiction – but it can also occur a long time in the past or on a different planet. That distance between what you know and what you are writing allows you to imagine something completely new, such as governments or societies evolved upon completely different standards. In doing so, it is possible to imagine extreme alternatives. From here, it is possible to imagine real alternatives for interacting with the Other, negotiating the world in ways that are truly different from our experiences, though a whole section of science fiction ignores this and focuses on killing the Other.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Science-fiction does all this while staying true to, in theory, the rules of physics, while fantasy does not have to justify the world scientifically, allowing you to build the world completely as you like, which is pretty amazing. In science fiction, this line is easily blurred by the creation of technology that does not exist.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: The rules of physics evolve with new discoveries, which further blurs the line.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nKate Sheckler\u00a0<\/strong>: And what both genres offer, if they are written in the most courageous way, is the ability to question not only the world as it is but also your perception of the world. By looking at your own world as a stranger within it, it allows you to question if things could be organized in a different way, such as why do we have government, marriage, or gender?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Il y a aussi la d\u00e9familiarisation ou la \u00ab\u00a0distanciation cognitive\u00a0\u00bb, comme disait Darko Suvin, qui nous permet d\u2019aborder ces id\u00e9es et ces concepts normalement familiers d\u2019une mani\u00e8re compl\u00e8tement diff\u00e9rente, de les r\u00e9\u00e9valuer, et cela nous entra\u00eene vers une compr\u00e9hension alternative de ce que c\u2019est d\u2019\u00eatre un corps dans le monde, et un esprit dans le monde.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Tu enseignes un cours d\u2019anglais sur les genres litt\u00e9raires au Coll\u00e8ge Marianopolis, que tu as construit autour de la science-fiction\u00a0: que trouves-tu que ce genre apporte \u00e0 ton enseignement et \u00e0 tes \u00e9l\u00e8ves?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Nous traversons le monde comme s\u2019il est solide et connaissable, et bien que toute la litt\u00e9rature nous permet de questionner cela, l\u2019op\u00e9ration est diff\u00e9rente en science-fiction, car les \u0153uvres y cr\u00e9ent une approche du monde qui nous force \u00e0 nous questionner sur ces choses sur lesquelles on ne s\u2019interroge jamais.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Tu as suivi mon cours, et tu te rappelles peut-\u00eatre que j\u2019ai dit qu\u2019on base notre vie sur des hypoth\u00e8ses, ce qui est tout \u00e0 fait acceptable, car sans elles, nous ne pouvons pas vivre au quotidien.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Yes, I remember this concept, the idea that you just assume the world will be there when you wake up in the morning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler\u00a0<\/strong>: Indeed, and you don\u2019t check that the floor is there when you put your foot out of bed. You have to do so, because the minute you stop, you need to check everything, and then you can never move. These assumptions are how we live, but that does not mean we shouldn\u2019t question them sometimes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The reason I teach science fiction is that there are other sorts of assumptions, that grow out of those basic ones we just mentioned. These assumptions are not nearly so benign or so useful. It\u2019s one thing to assume the floor will be there, and it\u2019s another to assume you deserve your position in society because you have white skin or because you are male, etc., something that so many people do – and I\u2019m not taking myself off that. You have to question these assumptions, asking yourself \u201cWhat do I know and what do I think I know?\u201d If someone says \u201cWe must defend ourselves, we must be militarized, we must kill the Other\u201d, we should question this, as perhaps we do not need to defend ourselves, to be militarized, or to kill the Other. The idea that perhaps you do not need to assume such things about a person is where science fiction is a more conductive medium, bringing the questions to the forefront, whereas other genres tend to be more accepting of these assumptions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ce n\u2019est pas n\u00e9cessaire de remettre en question ces hypoth\u00e8ses chaque jour. Cependant, il faut le faire r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement, et je crois qu\u2019un cours de litt\u00e9rature permet le bon contexte pour cela. Gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 un tel cours, les gens peuvent saisir non seulement l\u2019influence de la litt\u00e9rature, mais aussi les joies qu\u2019elle peut apporter. Ils s\u2019y font rappeler qu\u2019ils peuvent contester les choses, et que ces questionnements ne sont pas mena\u00e7ants, ils sont source de plaisir. Parler de cela dans le cadre d\u2019un cours me permet de rappeler aux \u00e9l\u00e8ves qu\u2019ils devraient savoir pourquoi ils se trouvent dans ce cours. Et si tout se passe bien, certains d\u2019entre eux en ressortent contents d\u2019avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 l\u00e0 pour plus qu\u2019un simple passage \u00e0 traverser en vue d\u2019obtenir un dipl\u00f4me, mais id\u00e9alement, comme une exp\u00e9rience qui les aidera \u00e0 am\u00e9liorer leur relation avec le monde.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Pour qu\u2019on apprenne \u00e0 te conna\u00eetre un peu mieux, peux-tu nous parler de certains de tes auteurs pr\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s en SFF, et nous expliquer pourquoi tu aimes leurs \u0153uvres?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Ursula Le Guin has been my favourite author for years and years, and as you know, I\u2019m currently writing my dissertation, in part on her work. My favourite book of hers is The Telling<\/em>, for personal reasons. The protagonist in this novel is a skeptic who witnesses things that are not explainable by science. This idea is interesting because Le Guin writes fantasy, and she could easily have done so with this book, yet she chose not to, she chose to write it as science fiction. Le Guin is careful about not falling into mysticism, but she is aware that rationalism does not explain everything in the world, which raises a lot of questions. I find it courageous of her to ask these questions to a science based community, and this courage is what makes this my favourite book of hers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Most people would consider The Left Hand of Darkness<\/em> a better book, and it or The Dispossessed<\/em> her best work. Personally, I feel The Dispossessed<\/em> to be a little dated now, though it\u2019s still very important and you should absolutely read it. In terms of The Left Hand of Darkness<\/em>, I do not believe she had the choices people imply she did about gender issues, even though she later stated that she did. The story is character-driven, and Genly Ai is who he is. People often conflate narrator, protagonist and author, stating Le Guin made sexist comments when in fact Genly Ai, kind, generous character that he is, is sexist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/romans_Kate_-_Francesca_Robitaille-300x207.jpg\")
Cr\u00e9dit : Francesca Robitaille<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: Also, just because she\u2019s written a sexist character does not mean she condones sexism in any way.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nKate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Exactement. Selon moi, lorsque des gens d\u00e9clarent que Le Guin aurait d\u00fb faire les choses diff\u00e9remment, en r\u00e9alit\u00e9, ils disent plut\u00f4t qu\u2019elle aurait d\u00fb \u00e9crire un livre diff\u00e9rent. Pourtant, puisque cette histoire est port\u00e9e par Genly Ai et par qui il est, c\u2019est plut\u00f4t un rappel que m\u00eame les personnes gentilles et admirables ont aussi des d\u00e9fauts. Cela fait de Genly un personnage tr\u00e8s \u00e9vocateur, tr\u00e8s \u00ab\u00a0r\u00e9sonant\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nSamuel Delany est un autre de mes auteurs pr\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9s, car il est tr\u00e8s avant-gardiste, particuli\u00e8rement pour son temps. Son style d\u2019\u00e9criture me rappelle le chant et la danse, et il se rapproche plus d\u2019un chor\u00e9graphe que d\u2019autre chose quant \u00e0 ce qu\u2019il peut faire avec l\u2019\u00e9criture. Pour comprendre tout ce qu\u2019il \u00e9crit, il faut bel et bien travailler pendant la lecture, et il faut lire le livre une dizaine de fois. Samuel Delany \u00e9crit \u00e0 partir d\u2019une position tr\u00e8s marginalis\u00e9e, en tant qu\u2019homme noir et homosexuel durant les ann\u00e9es\u00a01960, ce que je trouve admirable et r\u00e9ellement int\u00e9ressant. Bien que ses id\u00e9es ne r\u00e9sonnent pas en moi autant que celles de Le Guin, je trouve son approche au monde tout aussi fascinante et importante. Son travail et sa conception du monde me rappellent que ma propre vision, ou celle de Le Guin, sont int\u00e9ressantes, mais que la sienne l\u2019est tout autant et qu\u2019elle est importante, et ce m\u00eame si elle ne vibre pas en moi autant que celle de Le Guin. C\u2019est facile de croire que les visions du monde qui sont tr\u00e8s rapproch\u00e9es de la n\u00f4tre sont plus importantes que celles qui en diff\u00e8rent, et Delany me rappelle qu\u2019il vaut mieux ne pas tomber dans ce pi\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ann Leckie est une auteure que j\u2019ai d\u00e9couverte plus r\u00e9cemment, et sa trilogie de l\u2019ancillaire, Les Chroniques du Radch<\/em>, r\u00e9alise vraiment des choses qui font que son \u0153uvre se distingue des autres. Dans cette s\u00e9rie, ce qui ressort le plus, selon moi, est la fa\u00e7on dont les personnages, comme parties int\u00e9grantes du vaisseau, sont tous d\u00e9sign\u00e9s par des elle<\/em>, peu importe le genre des personnages. Cela affecte compl\u00e8tement l\u2019histoire, et rend l\u2019identit\u00e9 de genre des personnages beaucoup plus fluide. Par exemple, je me suis surprise \u00e0 imaginer un genre \u00e0 certains personnages qui devait pourtant \u00eatre diff\u00e9rent de celui que Leckie leur avait peut-\u00eatre assign\u00e9 en les \u00e9crivant. Une telle fa\u00e7on de raconter une histoire nous oblige \u00e0 revoir les id\u00e9es pr\u00e9con\u00e7ues que nous avons tous sur l\u2019identit\u00e9 du genre, et sur beaucoup d\u2019autres choses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I also enjoyed the importance of songs in the story, which really allowed for a characterization of the protagonist, despite the lack of any formal personality due to the cooption of the ship over the individual, which questions many aspects of personality.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: You have recently had the chance to attend the festival des Imaginales, in France, as part of the Horizons imaginaires delegation. What would you consider the highlights of that trip?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nKate Sheckler\u00a0<\/strong>: For me, that was the first time officially working with Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso, which was really exciting, and it served to see if we can work together, even if that was not at all our intent for the trip to begin with. It simply showed us that not only are we on the same page about intentions and values, but that we can also work in tandem very well. I think that\u2019s important if we are to invest a lot of energy into Horizons imaginaires over the next few years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The festival was interesting and fun, and I learned a lot about the genres I\u2019ve been involved with so far in an isolated and personal way. It really brought me into the community. Another part I really enjoyed were the discussions we had with publishers and writers in the community over meals lasting anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. It was a big learning curve for me, and not only in regard to language, but seeing people from very different communities with vastly differing opinions talk and laugh together over discussions covering so many topics was great.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille<\/strong>\u00a0: What do you think of the idea that speculative fiction genres might help to connect the Francophone and Anglophone literary communities in Quebec?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler\u00a0<\/strong>: Je crois qu\u2019afin de comprendre le besoin de cr\u00e9er des liens entre communaut\u00e9s litt\u00e9raires, il faut avoir compris, voire senti les effets de la marginalisation qui peut s\u2019y produire. Et les genres de l\u2019imaginaire ont assur\u00e9ment \u00e9t\u00e9 marginalis\u00e9s. Cet effet s\u2019illustre bien par le terme de paralitt\u00e9rature<\/em>, que j\u2019ai r\u00e9cemment appris en fran\u00e7ais, et qui force la science-fiction et le fantastique dans une position o\u00f9 ils ne seraient pas \u00ab\u00a0de la vraie litt\u00e9rature\u00a0\u00bb, bien que ce semble \u00eatre moins le cas derni\u00e8rement. Reste que je connais toujours des gens qui me d\u00e9clarent sans g\u00eane des choses comme \u00ab\u00a0Je ne lis pas de la science-fiction\u00a0\u00bb, \u00ab\u00a0Je ne lis pas de la fantasy.\u00a0\u00bb Vu ce pass\u00e9 v\u00e9cu dans les marges, je crois que la connexion entre les deux communaut\u00e9s litt\u00e9raires peut se faire plus durablement que si c\u2019\u00e9tait le centre qui parlait au centre.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille\u00a0: <\/strong>En terminant, qu\u2019est-ce que \u00e7a vous fait de rejoindre les Horizons imaginaires? Et qu\u2019esp\u00e9rez-vous apporter au projet? Avez-vous des objectifs pr\u00e9cis que vous d\u00e9sirez accomplir?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler<\/strong>\u00a0: Le premier sentiment que je ressens gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 cette opportunit\u00e9, c\u2019est de l\u2019excitation. Ce qui est \u00e9trange avec les opportunit\u00e9s, c\u2019est qu\u2019elles ne se pr\u00e9sentent pas toujours au moment o\u00f9 on les souhaite, et ce qu\u2019on ne reconna\u00eet pas toujours comme une opportunit\u00e9 se transforme souvent pour en devenir une par la suite.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
I think Mathieu has brought Horizons imaginaires very far to make it what it has become. I think that with the two of us working together, the result of our contributions is larger than the sum of the parts, which has let to future projects expanding a lot. It is allowing us to move towards a strongly connexion-based mandate, and new, novel projects loom closer everytime we talk. Since the whole of what we bring is larger than the sum of the parts, I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s something I bring. Regardless, this opportunity has arisen and it will let me do some very cool things.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Entrevue_Kate___Mathieu_Lauzon-DIcso-300x300.jpg\")
Cr\u00e9dit : Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Finally, I have a question for you, Francesca. You\u2019ve graduated from Marianopolis a year ago and have gone on towards your future. There are practical reasons you\u2019ve stayed in touch with Horizons imaginaires, which are completely valid. I want to know about the other ones.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Francesca Robitaille\u00a0: <\/strong>I think most of it comes back to my emotional connection to it. I\u2019ve been with Horizons imaginaires since the beginning, and I\u2019m very proud of how far it has gone since then, even though I know this is absolutely not just me, and I\u2019m proud of my contributions to help bring it to where it is. I also love the excitement of seeing where it\u2019s going and how it\u2019s continuing to grow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Participer au projet est pour moi quelque chose de gratifiant. Bien que ma passion pour la lecture et l\u2019\u00e9criture \u00e9tait d\u00e9j\u00e0 pr\u00e9sente bien avant, elle est seulement devenue tangible dans ma vie, pour moi, \u00e0 travers mon implication. \u00c7a m\u2019a permis de concilier cette passion avec mon apprentissage des sciences et avec les attentes conventionnelles plac\u00e9es sur moi. Bref, je crois que ma participation dans le projet est pertinente pour mon d\u00e9veloppement personnel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kate Sheckler\u00a0<\/strong>: One of the reasons I teach is I think literature and language are the foundation of all practical things in life, yet we often lose sight of that. Information is only useful if it can make sense in the world, and that\u2019s ultimately what language does.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
R\u00e9vision\u00a0: Mathieu Lauzon-Dicso<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Par Francesca Robitaille Professeure d\u2019anglais au Coll\u00e8ge Marianopolis, Kate Sheckler rejoindra l\u2019\u00e9quipe des Horizons imaginaires en tant que cor\u00e9dactrice en chef du blogue culturel \u00e0 compter de l\u2019automne\u00a02018. Auteure \u00e0 l\u2019esprit lucide et engag\u00e9, elle s\u2019int\u00e9resse aux litt\u00e9ratures de l\u2019imaginaire, qu\u2019elle enseigne et \u00e9tudie, en se sp\u00e9cialisant sur l\u2019enjeu des m\u00e9taphores dans l\u2019\u0153uvre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[374,371,301,147,369,91,75,375,373,370,64,90,372,95,66,138],"class_list":["post-2262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrevues","tag-anglais","tag-ann-leckie","tag-blogue-culturel","tag-canada","tag-college-marianopolis","tag-fantastique","tag-fantasy","tag-francais","tag-interview","tag-kate-sheckler","tag-marianopolis","tag-quebec","tag-samuel-delany","tag-science-fiction","tag-sffq","tag-ursula-le-guin"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2270,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions\/2270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marianopolis.edu\/horizonsimaginaires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}