North-Americanicity in the novel: LE 'Soleil des gouffres' by Louis Hamelin

Louis Hamelin's novel Le soleil des gouffres present an interesting step fo rward for the problematic of 'americanite' within Quebec literature. Posite d in the travel genre literature, the novel represents the crossing of Nort h American borders, from Quebec to Mexico and back, as such a crossing figu res out the exploration of a North American identity at the time of politic al and cultural transformations occurring in the wake of NAFTA. This articl e analyzes how different aspects of the symbolic figuration of North Americ an identity find a specific determination in Hamelin's novel.