Gabriel Proulx, Ph.D.

My research focuses on contemporary French and Québécois poetry, autofiction, and critical disability studies. My current project explores the presence of autism in French-language literature, as well autistic modes of reading and interpreting texts. This project is threefold: in the first part, I look at thematic representations of autism (autistic characters and/or narrators); in the second part, I analyze the works of authors who use autism-specific thought processes and language patterns as poetic tools; in the last part, I delve into the critical potential of autism as a theoretical approach to literary studies.

I am an Assistant Professor of French at Athabasca University. After completing my BA and MA at McGill University, I earned my PhD from the Université du Québec à Montréal, where I worked on the influence of Gertrude Stein on contemporary French poetry. I was subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at the Université de Montréal (2022–2024) and the University of Alberta (2024–2025). My research focuses on contemporary French and Québécois literature, with a particular interest in experimental poetry, autofiction, and critical disability studies. I am the author of several books, including one academic monograph on Samuel Beckett and Christophe Tarkos (Quand les spectres prennent la parole, Classiques Garnier), one novel (Garçon désamorcé: roman autistique, Poètes de brousse), and two poetry collections. My articles on have appeared in French Studies, Études littéraires, Nottingham French Studies, @nalyses, and Contemporary French and Francophone Studies.