Aimé Pelletier, who has written all of his works under the pseudonym Bertrand Vac, is a Montreal surgeon. Vac's literary career, which has spanned several decades, is marked by his constant attempt at various writing styles and different genres. The work of this three-time winner of the Prix du Cercle du Livre de France did, however, attract harsh criticism from the literary elite of the 1950s and 1960s, whom the author deliberately shunned. Shocked by Vac's bold subject matter and language, some critics openly disapproved when Vac received his literary awards, and Vac was not recognized as a major Quebec writer. However, there are contemporary critics who praise both his style and choice of subjects, crediting him as well with having introduced new literary forms to Quebec.

Vac was born Joseph-Omer-Aimé Pelletier on 20 August 1914 in Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare (Joliette), Quebec, a small village about sixty-five miles north of...