Nanabozo, initiation et métamorphose dans Le lièvre d’Amérique de Mireille Gagné

Abstract

Le lièvre d’Amérique (The Snowshoe Hare) (2020) by Mireille Gagné received important recognition on both sides of the Atlantic soon after its release. The richness of this animal fable has partly to do with its affinity to the Nanabozo figure, the trickster found in the mythologies of numerous cultures. Polymorphous and a transgressor of the rules, the trickster presents itself to humans to teach them lessons or to show them their faults. In the novel, Nanabozo invites the protagonist to enter a liberating becoming-animal state. First disguised as a teenager, Nanabozo calls on the community to change its vision of the environment. Then, through a genetic treatment, he incites the protagonist to abandon capitalistic and anthropocentric ideology. Here is the fable’s moral: one must listen to the trickster so that, by finding a balance within ourselves and between us and the surrounding world, the “borders fall” between living beings and one can find peace.