Louis-Honoré Fréchette

Infobox Writer
name = Louis-Honoré Fréchette


imagesize = 200px
caption = Louis-Honoré Fréchette, 1900. Credit: Royal Society Portraits / Library and Archives Canada / C-002037.
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birthdate = birth date|1839|11|16
birthplace = Lévis, Quebec
deathdate = death date and age|1908|05|30|1839|11|16
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occupation = poet, playwright, short story writer
nationality = French Canadian
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influences = Victor Hugo
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Louis-Honoré Fréchette, (November 16, 1839 – May 31, 1908), was a French Canadian poet, politician, playwright, and short story writer.

Biography

Born in Lévis, Québec, from 1854 to 1860, Fréchette did his classical studies at the Séminaire de Québec, the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and at the Séminaire de Nicolet. He later studied law at Université Laval.

In 1864, he opened a lawyer's office in Lévis where he founded two newspapers: "Le drapeau de Lévis" and "La Tribune de Levis". He exiled himself in Chicago where he wrote "La voix d'un exilé". A number of plays which he wrote during that period were lost in the Great Chicago Fire.

Soon after he returned home in 1874, he was elected Member of Parliament in Ottawa. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1874 to 1878 as the Liberal Party of Canada member from Lévis.He was not re-elected in 1878. After that, he moved to Montreal where he began writing full time, having inherited the wealth of his aunt when she died.

He was the first Quebecer to receive the Montyon prize of the Académie française for his collection of poems "Les Fleurs boréales, les oiseaux de neige" (1879).

In 1897 he was created a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.

In Canada, there is a french immersion public school named after him, called "Louis Honoré Frechette". The students who go there are between grades 1 to 8.

Notable works

Poetry

* "La voix d'un exilé" (1866)
* "La découverte du Mississippi" (1873)
* "Pêle-mêle" (1877)
* "La Légende d'un peuple" (1877)
*"Poésies choisies" (1879)
* "Les Fleurs boréales, les oiseaux de neige" (1879)

hort stories

* "L'Iroquoise du lac Saint-Pierre" (1861)
* "Originaux et détraqués" (1892), based on real life characters
* "Les contes de Jos Violon"
* "Christmas in French Canada" (1899)

Plays

* "Le retour de l'exilé" (1880)
* "Papineau" (1880)
* La retour de l'exilé (1880)
* "Félix Poutré" (1892)

References

*W. H. New, ed. "Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada." Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002: 395-97.

External links

*gutenberg author| id=Louis+Fréchette | name=Louis-Honoré Fréchette
*DictCanbio|ID=6724
* [http://www.litterature.org/ile32000.asp?numero=209 "Notice biographique de Louis Fréchette at L'ÎLE"] (in French)
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?lang=E&query=15127&s=M Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament]
* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0003051 Louis-Honoré Fréchette's] entry in [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=HomePage&Params=A1 The Canadian Encyclopedia]