Jean Le Moyne, best known in literary circles for his book, Convergences (1961), ranks with the most important essayists Quebec has produced. The book appeared when the so-called Quiet Revolution was beginning. It made an immediate appeal to Quebec intellectuals, and when it was translated into English in 1966, as Convergence: Essays from Quebec, it aroused widespread interest throughout anglophone Canada. In certain respects the book seemed out of tune with the times, but it impressed readers by the searching quality of its analysis and the elegant precision of its style. For this volume Le Moyne received three literary prizes: a Governor General's Award, the Prix France-Canada, and first prize of the Concours Littéraires de la Province de Québec.

Readers of Convergences find Le Moyne's most carefully considered views on an impressive variety of topics. He was not yet out of his teens when he joined...