Les couleurs de la migration: Un regard phénoménologique et psychanalytique sur un classique de la littérature québécoise

Reading Ying Chen’s Les Lettres chinoises today from a phenomenological perspective and in the context of what is now called the migratory catastrophe means casting a dual gaze and posing a dual question: what does the literary work bring to the understanding of migration from a phenomenological standpoint, and to what extent can phenomenology, in turn, enrich the understanding of migration? Answering this, with the help of psychoanalysis, involves considering the phenomenon in its entirety and essentiality: the body in its anchoring and figurations, language in its mediums and most subtle expressions, and the tone of a unique perception of the world. It is to grasp migration not only as a physical displacement but as an existential transformation, marked by rupture, the search for meaning, and the need to negotiate one’s bearings and redefine one’s relationship with the world, both expansive and alienating.