Whether Quebec is an old friend or new acquaintance, reading about its literature has to include at some point a consideration of the place itself. And coming into contact with current day Quebec is not a simple matter. The very name Quebec has become a record of dynamic--at times troubled--meeting of culture, the consequences of which do not appear to diminish with the passage of time, but which, instead produce an always more complex identity to match the place name. It is appropriate, then, that essays in a collection on contemporary narrative fiction in Quebec view their subject through perspectives that seek to illuminate that "full diversity." In one way or another, but not in any single way other than in their provenance, the works of narrative fiction examined on the following pages are seen to be Quebecois. They reflect distinct realities that belong to Quebec, with all the representations of reality that site can offer. It has been the concern of the essayists to develop and focus their insights on Quebecois fiction so that the diversity of its realities bring the reader closer to present-day Quebec.