Catherine Leroux channelled radical hope in dystopian novel The Future — now it's on Canada Reads
The Future will be championed by Heather O'Neill during the great Canadian book debate
Writer Catherine Leroux drew from her own experience of motherhood for her novel, The Future. For her, overcoming adversity and finding hope even in a seemingly dystopian world remains an essential part of our humanity.
The Future is set in an alternate history of Detroit, where the French never surrendered the city to the U.S. Its residents deal with poverty, pollution and a legacy of racism. When Gloria, a woman looking for answers about her missing granddaughters, arrives in the city, she finds a kingdom of orphaned and abandoned children who have created their own society. The Future was translated into English by Susan Ouriou.
The Future will be championed by writer Heather O'Neill during Canada Reads 2024. The debates will take place March 4-7, 2024. They will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Listen and on CBC Books.
Leroux is a writer, translator and journalist from Montreal. She was shortlisted for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel The Party Wall, which is an English translation of her French-language short story collection Le mur mitoyen.
Ouriou is a French and Spanish to English translator, a fiction writer and a playwright. She has previously won the Governor General's Literary Award for translation for her work. She lives in Calgary.
Catherine spoke with The Next Chapter's Ryan B. Patrick in summer 2023 about The Future and the importance of compassion and optimism when struggling with difficult circumstances.
Detroit is a very interesting city in terms of urban decay and decline, and you capture that but in a dystopian sense, in The Future. How do you see the world of Fort Détroit?
I've resisted the label of dystopia for a lot of reasons, first of all because I did push it further than it is in Detroit. But the extent and the magnitude of the decay, I didn't exaggerate that much. For a few decades, the conditions in those neighbourhoods were pretty dire, and so I didn't have to take it that much further.
There's so many things going on that are indicative of a change in our way of life. That's why I'm resisting the idea of dystopia because I actually didn't have to make up that much. Also for me, dystopia means something very apocalyptic and hopeless. The cliché of the dystopian novel is that everyone becomes everyone's enemy and everyone wants to steal everything and kill everyone around them and eat their legs and stuff like that.
The cliché of the dystopian novel is that everyone becomes everyone's enemy.- Catherine Leroux
I think that it is imperative, especially in this moment of history, that we start thinking about another version of what could happen after things collapse. And that version, in my opinion, must include cooperation and solidarity and kindness toward each other, because I don't think humanity stands a chance if we don't act as if collaboration and solidarity are possible in these moments.
Gloria often sees beauty in her surroundings. Why does beauty matter so much to her?
I think it's her ultimate connection to a world that feels meaningless at this point in her life. It's something that I've experienced and I'm guessing a lot of other people have experienced: when something really terrible happens, when tragedy strikes, when someone around us is sick or has an accident or dies. I've experienced these moments of, "Obviously I'm extremely upset and I can't think about anything else," but at the same time, my perception of the world is intensified and I'm struck by the beauty that surrounds me, by the sounds, by the textures.
We start noticing things differently because our hearts are so open.- Catherine Leroux
It's like the usual "carapace" [shell] that exists between the self and the world is dissolved and we become extremely vulnerable to everything, including beauty. We start noticing things differently because our hearts are so open. And it's true with positive things too, like having a baby or falling in love. It's just these moments where the heart seems more connected to the world and I think that's what Gloria is experiencing and allowing us to experience through her.
I don't want to give too much away, but there's this lovely way that you end the book, where things kind of seem hopeful despite the difficult circumstances that the characters are in or what they're facing. Where does that sense of optimism come from?
I think that we have to be optimistic. What else are we going to do? And it sort of goes back to what I was saying about storytelling and dystopia. I think there's an element of self-fulfilling prophecy in those things, where if we say, "No, we can still tackle this," then we have a chance of doing it. If we say, "No matter what happens, if we can count on each other and respect each other and protect each other, then we'll be alright," then that's what's going to happen. Whereas if we say, "Oh as soon as we reach this point, then all hell will break loose," then that's what we'll make happen. What we believe matters a great deal.
And I toyed a lot with the idea of time, the structure of time as a construction. I find it very hard to accept the irreversibility of time, and for that reason our Western notion of time as something linear is kind of painful. But if you start thinking about time as something that can be circular or spiral shaped, then you get second chances. It's not that you're going to go back in time and get a do over, it's just that if things are cyclical, then there will be another point in the wheel where you can jump again and try to do things slightly differently.
What we believe matters a great deal.- Catherine Leroux
And that's the case for the whole community of Fort Détroit, who want to get a second chance at making things better for these kids, these little wildlings. And I think that we have to think that we will get a second chance as a civilization.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
