Hubert Aquin, very probably the greatest novelist of modern Quebec, was born and grew up in Montreal. He was the son of Jean Aquin, owner of a sporting goods store, and of Lucile Leger Aquin. He had two sons, Stéphane and Philippe, by his first marriage, to Thérèse Larouche, which ended in divorce in 1975, and one son, Emmanuel (b. 1968), by Andrée Yanacopoulo, with whom he lived from 1966 to 1977. He took his degree in philosophy at l'Université de Montréal in 1952, studied political science in Paris for three years, and returned from Paris in 1955 to a varied career as a journalist, writer of radio and television dramas, producer for Radio-Canada (1955-1959) and for the National Film Board of Canada (1959-1963), university professor of literature, and, for the last decade of his life, novelist. He was a founding editor of...