Terre Promise – paradis perdu : Désir et avatars d’un rȇve. Le Fou d’Amérique d’Yves Berger et Frontières ou Tableaux d’Amérique de Noël Aude (Promised Land – lost paradise: Desire and avatars of a dream. Le Fou d’Amérique by Yves Berger and Frontières ou Tableaux d’Amérique by Noël Audet)

Abstract

America haunts literary and cultural imaginations. The American dream of happiness faces repeated disappointments without questioning the desire of the recommencement, be it an individual or a collective adventure. The paper analyzes from this point of view the approaches of two authors and two novels, Yves Berger (Le Fou d’Amérique, 1983) and Noël Audet (Frontières ou Tableaux d’Amérique, 1995). The comparison aims to cross a French perspective and a Quebecer one in a brief overview of two possible terms of a civilizational dream.

Keywords

• Yves Berger
• Noël Audet
• American dream
• civilizational imaginary
• happiness
• limits
• Apocalypse