Bertrand Vac was the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

novelist and surgeon Aimé Pelletier (August 20, 1914 – July 23, 2010).Philip Fine
Montreal surgeon led parallel life as writer
. ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', October 13, 2010; www.theglobeandmail.com 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.

Early life and education

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

Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare is a municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Joliette Regional County Municipality. History In 1803, the geographic township of Kildare was proclaimed, named after Kildare, Ireland. At t ...

. The family later relocated to

Joliette Joliette () is a city in southwest Quebec, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Montreal, on the L'Assomption River and is the seat of the Regional County Municipality of Joliette. It is considered to be a part of the North Shore of G ...

. Pelletier, originally wishing to become an architect, was persuaded to become a doctor by his father. Pelletier graduated from the

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

medical school in 1939.(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.)

Career

Pelletier volunteered for service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was with the medical corps both during the war and until 1946. He worked in

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile ...

s behind the front lines in France, particularly during the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...

, when he arrived in France as part of the

Normandy Invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...

.Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains Québecois,
Obituary of Bertrand Vac
; www.uneq.qc.ca. 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. 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''. He won the

Prix du Cercle du livre de France The Prix du Cercle du livre de France is a literary prize created by the Quebec publishing house Le Cercle du livre de France with the aim of promoting Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest ...

on three occasions. Pelletier is believed to be the first Quebec writer to publish a

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

(''L'assassin dans l'hôpital'', 1956).
Supplement to the Oxford companion to Canadian history and literature
'. Oxford University Press; 1973. p. 308. As Bertrand Vac, Pelletier has been the subject of academic commentary and analysis. Pelletier wrote ''Louise Genest'' in 1950 and a satirical story ''Saint-Pépin, P.Q.'' in 1955. Belinda Jack.
Francophone Literatures: An Introductory Survey
'. OUP Oxford; 5 September 1996. . p. 79–. The themes of adultery in his early works were groundbreaking at that particular time in the history of Quebec literature. Many of his works are particularly referenced to Montreal's

Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...

, where Pelletier lived for over half a century.Jacques Fortin.
L'Aventure, récit d'un éditeur
'. Québec Amerique; 2013-02-05T11:43:47-05:00. . p. 410–. None of his works have been translated from the original French. Pelletier died in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

; his ashes are interred at his ancestral cemetery, located in

Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec Sainte-Mélanie () is a municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Joliette Regional County Municipality. It is located along the western shores of the L'Assomption River. History Sainte-Mélanie was formerly part of ...

Bibliography

Original works

*2008 ''Que le diable m'emporte'' (memoir) *1998 ''À mon seul désir'' (with a focus on the society of

Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Quebec Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon is a municipality in the D'Autray Regional County Municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. History The first settlers, mostly Irish and Scottish Loyalists, came around 1825 to the shores of Lake Maskinon ...

). *1992 ''Les voluptueuses'' *1991 ''Rue de Bullion'' *1988 ''Bizarres''(Commentary) *1974 ''Le carrefour des géants, Montréal 1820-1885'' (non-fiction essay) *1967 ''Mes pensées "profondes"'' {book of

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

s) *1965 ''Histoires galantes'' *1963 ''La favorite et le conquérant'' *1956 ''L'assassin dans l'hôpital''(Considered to be the first

published by a Quebec writer.) *1955 ''Saint-Pépin, P.Q.''(A

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

concerning the rural

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

and political corruption, referenced to

) *1952 ''Deux portes ... une addresse'' (The story of a soldier returning to a domestic life in Canada that he finds boring, compared to his love affair with a woman in France.) *1950 ''Louise Genest'' (The story of a rural homemaker who escapes an abusive husband and falls in love with a

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

man.)

Anthology

*1989 ''Le Choix de Bertrand Vac dans son œuvre''

Other

*1987 ''Jean C. Lallemand raconte'': Memoirs of an industrialist, philanthropist and music patron, with the collaboration of Bertrand Vac. Jean Clovis Lallemand (1898-1987) was one of the founders of the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

, who also established prizes for musical composition and was a lifelong financial patron of classical music, particularly in Montreal and area. He was admitted to membership in the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1968. * 1967 ''Appelez-moi Amédée'' Unpublished play.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vac, Bertrand 1914 births 2010 deaths Writers from Quebec 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian military personnel from Quebec Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps officers