Louis-Honoré Fréchette

Louis- Honoré Fréchette, CMG ( born November 16, 1839 in Lévis, † May 31, 1908 in Montreal ) was a Canadian poet, politician, playwright and author of short stories. He is regarded as the most important French-language writers of Canada in the 19th century.

Biography

The son of an illiterate contractor received from 1854 to 1860 his secondary education at three institutes of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He then studied law at the Université Laval in Quebec City. During his studies, he began to publish poems. In 1864 he opened a law office in Lévis. Since he lacked customers, he worked as a journalist. He founded two liberal newspapers, Le drapeau de Lévis and La Tribune de Lévis, with whom he also but had no success.

Because of financial problems Fréchette moved to Chicago in 1866, where he remained until 1871. There he worked as secretary of the Illinois Central Railroad and published his first book of poems, La voix d'un Exile in which he denounced the establishment of the Canadian Confederation and the Conservative Party attack sharp. Several plays that he had written during this time were lost in the Great Fire of Chicago.

After his return, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. At the general election in 1874, he was elected in the constituency of Lévis and was in the House of the fraction of the Liberal Party. The general election in 1878 ended for him but with the deselection. In 1876 he married Emma Beaudry, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and banker from Montreal. Financial independence allowed him to devote himself increasingly to the literature.

Fréchette now published his works in France. In 1880, he became the first French-Canadian for his poetry collection Les fleurs boréales, les oiseaux de neige the prestigious Prix Montyon the Académie française. After that Fréchette turned to prose. In 1897 he was knighted, 1900 /01, he chaired the Royal Society of Canada.

Works

Poetry

  • La voix d'un Exilé (1866 )
  • La découverte du Mississippi ( 1873)
  • Pêle - mêle (1877 )
  • Poésies choisies (1879 )
  • Les fleurs boréales, les oiseaux de neige (1879 )
  • La Légende d'un peuple (1887 )

Stories and novellas

  • L' Iroquoise du lac Saint- Pierre ( 1861)
  • Originaux et détraqués (1892 )
  • Les contes de Jos Violon
  • La Noël au Canada (1899 )
  • Le baiser de Madeleine

Theater

  • Le retour de l' Exilé (1880 )
  • Papineau (1880 )
  • Félix POUTRE (1892 )

Memoirs

  • Mémoires intimate (posthumous, 1961)
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) Canadian federal election, 1874 Liberal Party of Canada Canadian federal election, 1878 Dictionary of Canadian Biography Integrated Authority File
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