Tangence is a journal of literary studies with a rich intellectual tradition. Founded in 1981, it has been in publication for over 40 years. Initially titled Urgences and devoted to creative work, the journal changed its name and mandate in 1992 to become, over the decades, a peer-reviewed journal supported by major Canadian funding organizations. The journal currently boasts some one hundred issues that cover a wide variety of topics and bring together researchers from five continents. A quarter-century later, Tangence branched into a new direction with the creation of Tangence éditeur and two collections : Confluences, highlighting the work of prominent international researchers since 2006 and Émergence, introducing the work of young researchers since 2009.

The objective of Tangence and Tangence éditeur is to transcend traditional borders by offering the opportunity to rethink literary practices and the history of ideas outside the limited context of a single nation, a single discipline or a single theoretical approach, very often from a trans-secular perspective. It aims to serve as a point of convergence – an interface even – between all-too-often compartmentalized fields of study by examining a broad variety of themes and issues and promoting a concept of literature as an art interacting with other arts and bodies of knowledge.

The efforts deployed to encourage dialogue between approaches, centuries and cultures unite with the desire to find various and unique ways of disseminating the work of major international specialists and young researchers alike (large-scale conference tours in Quebec, collections, launchings, university-sponsored scientific events, etc.). Tangence and Tangence éditeur have thus secured a place in Quebec literary studies and acquired a reputation that now transcends national borders.

Tangence and Tangence éditeur are affiliated with the Département de lettres et humanités de l’Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), which has directed the journal since 1986, and with the Département de lettres et communication sociale de l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), which joined the editorial team in 1996. Both the journal and the publisher are points of convergence for the different campuses of the Université du Québec system.

• Le comité de direction, « Questions d’urgences », Urgences, n^o 1, 1981, p. 3-4 .

• Robert Dion et Élisabeth Haghebaert, « Présentation », Tangence, n^o 35, 1992, p. 5.

• Tangence hors-série : Index 1981-1996. Urgences/Tangence, n^os 1 à 50, par Frances Fortier, Anne Giguère et Élisabeth Haghebaert, mars 1996.

• Tangence hors-série  : Tangence avec d’autres mots. Neuf articles emblématiques pour un double anniversaire, dirigé par Marc André Bernier, André Gervais, Lucie Guillemette et Claude La Charité, novembre 2006.

• Tangence hors-série : Index 1996-2006, n^os 51 à 80, par Lou-Ann Marquis, novembre 2006.

• Tangence, n^o 100 : Bilan de l’apport de la recherche québécoise aux études littéraires des dernières décennies, dirigé par Mathilde Barraband, Hervé Guay, Claude La Charité et Roxanne Roy, 2012.

• Tangence, n^o 125-126 : Publier à la tangence de la littérature, des arts et des sciences – Spécial 40e anniversaire, dirigé par Hervé Guay et Roxanne Roy, 2021.

For additional details on the history of Tangence, see : Claude La Charité and Marie Lise Laquerre, “Tangence” in Dictionnaire des revues littéraires au XX^e siècle, domaine français, Bruno Curatolo (dir.), Paris, Honoré Champion, collection Dictionnaires et Références : 30, 2014, vol. II, pp. 1185-1191.