Reconsidering L'espace de Louis Goulet

Abstract

L’espace de Louis Goulet is treated as a historical document whose value lies in its descriptions of late-nineteenth century Métis life. Though the author maintained that everything in the text was true, he was adamant that he was not "writing history", but rather telling “a story” (Charette ix). This reading analyses L’espace aesthetically, while taking into account the the passage of Goulet’s narrative from the oral tradition to the written form, in order to argue that this text is fundamentally concerned with the existential concerns that arose within the Métis community in the wake of the virtual-extinction of the buffalo.