Louis Hémon

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Louis Hémon (12 October 1880 - 8 July 1913), was a francophone writer best known for his novel Maria Chapdelaine.

[edit] Biography

He was born in Brest, France. In Paris, where he resided with his family, he was enrolled in the Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand secondary schools. A bilingual secretary in several maritime agencies, he collaborated, starting from 1904, in a Parisian sports journal, in which he published some of his chronological studies. After his studies of law and oriental languages in the Sorbonne, he moved to London.

In 1911, he moved to Canada, initially at Montreal. He would write Maria Chapdelaine during his time working at a farm in the Lac Saint-Jean region. He died when he was struck by a train and killed in Chapleau, Ontario in 1913, and never saw the widespread publication of his landmark novel.

Since his death, Maria Chapdelaine has been translated into 20 languages while other novels were published posthumously.

Hémon had one daughter, Lydia-Kathleen, during a relationship in England with Lydia O'Kelly.

[edit] Bibliography

1908: Lizzie Blakeston
1913: Maria Chapdelaine
- Project Gutenberg texts (public domain):
  - English translation
  - (French) Original text
1923: la Belle que voilà
1924: Colin-Maillard
1926: Battling Malone, pugiliste
1950: Monsieur Ripois et la Némésis
1974: L'aventure Louis Hémon (Alfred Ayotte and Victor Tremblay)
2000: Louis Hémon, le fou du lac (Mathieu-Robert Sauvé)