Background
Pamphile was born on January 5, 1837, in Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada, the oldest child of a merchant farmer and one of fourteen children. His parents were Leon (a merchant farmer) and Louise (Auger) Lemay.
Séminaire de Quebec, Old Quebec, Quebec, Canada
Pamphile began classical studies in 1846 at the Séminaire de Quebec, graduated, 1850
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Pamphile attended seminary at the University of Ottawa.
Pamphile Le May around 1910.
Pamphile Le May
Librarian novelist storyteller translator
Pamphile was born on January 5, 1837, in Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada, the oldest child of a merchant farmer and one of fourteen children. His parents were Leon (a merchant farmer) and Louise (Auger) Lemay.
Pamphile attended primary school at Trois Rivieres and had preparatory studies with the notary of Lotviniere. He began classical studies in 1846 at the Séminaire de Quebec and graduated in 1850. Later he attended seminary at the University of Ottawa.
After four years of intense philosophical, intellectual and spiritual application in Séminaire de Quebec, Lemay became overwhelmed with his choices and embarked on his own journey to determine his next professional commitment. Though he had originally considered a career in law, after working at odd jobs throughout the United States and Canada he recognized an inner longing to become a priest. Lemay entered the seminary at the University of Ottawa, but was unable to complete his instruction because of severe stomach pains that affected him throughout his life. However, instead of surrendering his passion, Lemay was determined to invent an alternative route on which to follow his calling. Thus, as Barbara Godard stated in Dictionary of Literary Biography, “Literature became his pulpit.”
In 1860, Lemay once again applied himself to the study of law, and consequently worked as a translator for the legislative assembly at Quebec, and then for Parliament in Ottawa. In 1865 he published Essais poétiques, his first volume of verse. Some of his early themes can be detected in this freshman work.
In 1867 Lemay made a career move that ultimately served to launch his writing career, though not in the typical fashion. He accepted a position as the parliamentary librarian at Quebec, and remained at that post for twenty-five years. This career decision invited a financial comfort and daily stability that allowed his creativity to flourish and embark on its own ambitious journey. During those twenty-five years, Lemay was able to break through personal and spiritual barriers and ascend to new creative heights. The stability, as well as the stimulating cerebral environment, provided a sanctuary for his spirituality to grow and prosper. He wrote an epic poem about the war against the Indians called “La Decouverte du Canada,” which won in a poetry contest sponsored by Laval University.
After winning the poetry contest at Laval University again in 1869 with “Hymne pour la fete nationale des Canadiens français,” he produced Les Vengeances (“The Revenges,” 1875). This was, according to Godard, “a didactic poem illustrating sin and redemption, (and dealing with) the separation of parents and children and the coincidences of fate leading to their union, which reveal that ‘heaven has its secrets: its greatness crushes us.’ ” Les Vengeances was republished in 1888 as Tonkourou.
Lemay also wrote detective novels, which were the first of their kind to be set in the region. Challenging his literary potential even further, Lemay spent some time trying his hand at writing comedies, but his efforts were deemed comparably weak. However, during this period he produced one of his most critically acclaimed works, which was an essay he wrote in 1880 for St. Jean Baptiste Day. In this essay, Godard said that Lemay boldly “proclaims the sacred nature of the writer’s function-to lead his people toward God and help them maintain their culture.”
In fact, in 1899 he produced what is generally regarded as his prose masterpiece, a weaving of reality, spirituality and folktale called Contes vrais.
He died at Deschaillons in 1918 surrounded by his family.
Pamphile was a member of Royal Society of Canada.
Pamphile marred Celima Robitaille in 1865; they had fourteen children.