Background
Pelletier was born the eighth of ten children to the local surgeon at Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec. Pelletier, originally wishing to become an architect, was persuaded to become a doctor by his father.
essayist writer short story writer
Pelletier was born the eighth of ten children to the local surgeon at Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare, Quebec. Pelletier, originally wishing to become an architect, was persuaded to become a doctor by his father.
Pelletier graduated from the Laval University medical school in 1939.
Bertrand Vac, Mes pensées "profondes" (1967)
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. The family later relocated to Joliette, Quebec.
He volunteered for service during the Second World War, and was with the medical corps both during the war and until 1946.
He worked in field hospitals behind the front lines in France, particularly during the Battle of Normandy, when he arrived in France as part of the Normandy Invasion. Pelletier"s nom de plume 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". 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.
Pelletier is also believed to be the first Quebec writer to publish a detective novel (L"assassin dans l"hôpital, 1956).
As Bertrand Vac, Pelletier has been the subject of academic commentary and analysis. Pelletier"s novels, such as Louise Genest (1950) and Saint-Pépin, Petroquest Energy (1955) are considered to have influenced a generation. The themes of adultery in his early works were groundbreaking at that particular time in the history of Quebec literature.
Pelletier"s ashes are interred at his ancestral cemetery, located in Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec.
