Louis-Honoré Fréchette (who occasionally used the pseudonym Cyprien) is remembered today for his short stories and recollections of the picturesque characters he met during his youth. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, he was considered the most important poet that French Canada had produced, and a considerable essayist and playwright. A friend and patron of the literary and cultural movements of the period, he represented to his generation--despite the literary quarrels in which he became embroiled--the ideal man of letters.

Born in Lévis, Quebec, across the Saint Lawrence River from Quebec City, Fréchette was the son of Louis-Marthe and Marguerite Martineau Fréchette. In his memoirs he recalls these years as a time of joyous adventure, but from his earliest years, he was also drawn to the United States. At the age of fifteen he ran away...