Bertrand Vac

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Bertrand Vac
BornAimé Pelletier
(1914-08-20)August 20, 1914
Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec
DiedJuly 23, 2010(2010-07-23) (aged 95)
Montreal, Quebec
Occupationsurgeon, writer
SubjectQuote: "Cynicism saves you a lot of time." - Mes pensées "profondes" (1967)[1]

Bertrand Vac was the pen name of Quebec novelist and surgeon Aimé Pelletier (August 20, 1914 – July 23, 2010).[1][2] Aimé Pelletier, writing as Bertrand Vac, developed a literary career while working for over fifty years at the Verdun General Hospital as a surgeon and, in semi-retirement, as a surgical assistant. His literary activities were initially hidden from his medical colleagues.[1]

Early life and education

Pelletier was born the eighth of ten children to the local surgeon at

Laval University medical school in 1939.[1](Pelletier's obituary at the Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains Québecois states that he graduated from the Université de Montréal medical school, rather than the Université Laval.) [3]

Career

Pelletier volunteered for service during the

Normandy Invasion.[1][4]

Pelletier's pen name was developed in France. After the war, Pelletier chose to study surgery in Paris, where his colleagues preferred to call him "Bernard", rather than "Aimé". Vac was chosen as his literary surname because it represented the Hindu God of Speech.[1]

Pelletier wrote fourteen books during a sixty-year literary career, primarily with publisher Le cercle du livre de France, later known Les Éditions Pierre Tisseyre.

detective novel (L'assassin dans l'hôpital, 1956).[5][1] As Bertrand Vac, Pelletier has been the subject of academic commentary and analysis.[6]

Pelletier wrote Louise Genest in 1950 and a satirical story Saint-Pépin, P.Q. in 1955. [7] The themes of adultery in his early works were groundbreaking at that particular time in the history of Quebec literature.[1] Many of his works are particularly referenced to Montreal's Golden Square Mile, where Pelletier lived for over half a century.[8] None of his works have been translated from the original French.

Pelletier died in Montreal; his ashes are interred at his ancestral cemetery, located in Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec.[9]

Bibliography

Original works

Anthology

  • 1989 Le Choix de Bertrand Vac dans son œuvre

Other

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Philip Fine, Montreal surgeon led parallel life as writer Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine. The Globe and Mail, October 13, 2010; www.theglobeandmail.com
  2. ^ Frédérique Doyon, Décès de l'écrivain Bertrand Vac. Le Devoir, July 28, 2010; www.ledevoir.com.
  3. ^ Pelletier's obituary at the Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains Québecois.Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains Québecois, Obituary of Bertrand Vac Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine; www.uneq.qc.ca.
  5. ^ Supplement to the Oxford companion to Canadian history and literature. Oxford University Press; 1973. p. 308.
  6. ^ See, for example, Anna Schoderboeck, The element of frustration in the French-Canadian novel 1940-1954. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Western Ontario, 2006; www.gradworks.umi.com.
  7. ISBN 978-0-19-158413-8
    . p. 79–.
  8. ISBN 978-2-7644-1817-8
    . p. 410–.
  9. ^ Obituary, Aimé (Bertrand Vac) Pelletier; www.inmemoriam.ca.
  10. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
    . Retrieved October 7, 2019.
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