Author of essays, newspaper articles, plays, tales, short stories, and more than thirty novels, Yves Thériault was one of the most prolific francophone writers in Canada. Although many of his works are popular, Agaguk (1958; translated, 1963), the story of an Eskimo living a nomadic and primitive life in the far North, has been hailed as his masterpiece. It received the Prix de la Province de Québec in 1958 and the Prix France-Canada in 1961 and has been translated into six languages. As of 1981 Agaguk was studied in all Quebec high schools and in many French-Canadian literature courses across Canada and abroad. Accordingly sales of Thériault's books are high, and several of his works have had more than one edition. The success of Agaguk prompted Thériault to write sequels: Tayaout, fils d'Agaguk was published in 1969, and Agoak, l'héritage d'Agaguk appeared in 1975.

Yves...