Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard
Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard was a pioneering Quebec poet and writer, born on January 14, 1889, in Les Escoumins, Quebec. Overcoming personal challenges, including a childhood injury that left her with a lasting infirmity, she became one of the first women in Quebec to receive a secondary education equivalent to that of men. Lamontagne-Beauregard began her literary career in 1913 with the publication of her acclaimed poetry collection, *Visions gaspésiennes*, and went on to produce several notable works, including *La vieille maison* and *Un cœur fidèle*. She was known for her regionalist writing, which often portrayed rural life positively, while also addressing themes of women's empowerment through inheritance laws.
Despite facing health issues in her later years, she continued to write until her death in Montreal on May 25, 1958. Her contributions largely faded from public view until the rise of nationalism and feminism in Quebec during the 1960s rekindled interest in her work. Today, she is celebrated as the first female poet of Quebec, and her literary legacy continues to inspire discussions around gender and regional identity in Canadian literature.
Subject Terms
Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard
Author
- Born: January 14, 1889
- Birthplace: Les Escoumins, Quebec
- Died: May 25, 1958: Montreal, Quebec
Contribution: Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard was the first female poet from Quebec to be published. She is also considered the first female poet from the region to publish under her own name rather than a pseudonym. In her work and in her own life, Lamontagne-Beauregard tested the limitations placed on women of her time.
Education and Early Life
Blanche Lamontagne was born to a poor family in Les Escoumins, Quebec, on January 14, 1889. In 1897, she moved to Cap-Chat with her family. In 1902, she dislocated her knee, and it never healed properly, leading to a lasting infirmity that made it difficult for her to play with other children.
With tuition assistance from her uncle, she received her education at a convent in Montreal. Lamontagne-Beauregard later studied literature at the University of Montreal.
Career
Lamontagne-Beauregard pursued her education and career in a way that did not conform to contemporary gender roles. She was one of the first women in Quebec to complete a secondary education equivalent to that obtained by men of the time and befriended early feminists. She was also one of the first women in Quebec to write under her own name, instead of following the then-popular practice of using a male pseudonym. Even after her marriage, she continued to use her maiden name, separating it from her husband’s with a hyphen.
Lamontagne-Beauregard’s first volume of poetry, Visions gaspésiennes (Views of the Gaspé), was published in 1913. The volume sold well, but did not earn a great deal of money. In 1916, her family moved to Isle-Verte, and the following year, she fell in love with a local man, but he died during the spring of 1918. In 1920 she published La vieille maison (The old house) and married Hector Beauregard, a lawyer. During that same year, she moved to Montreal and continued to write, achieving some success with novels as well as poetry.
Her 1924 novel, Un cœur fidèle (A faithful heart), is characteristic of her work. Lamontagne-Beauregard was one of the earliest regionalist Quebec writers, and her novel presents a positive view of rural life. The novel follows the pattern of the rural novels popular at the time, in which a son inherits his father’s land. However, Lamontagne-Beauregard’s protagonist is a woman who, through a convoluted working of the inheritance laws following the death of her husband, ultimately does inherit her family’s land. The novel shows the real economic power that could be wielded by widows, but Lamontagne-Beauregard carefully arranged the plot to keep her protagonist respectable. Throughout the book, the protagonist is motivated not by greed but a desire to help take care of her family’s land.
Later Years and Impact
In her later years Lamontagne-Beauregard suffered from ill health and her once-broken leg still pained her. She died in Montreal on May 25, 1958, from pulmonary edema. After her death, her work was largely forgotten until the rise of nationalism and the separatist movement in Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s. This, combined with the rise of feminism, once again aroused interest in Lamontagne-Beauregard and her work.
Principal Works
Visions gaspésiennes (Views of the Gaspé), 1913
Par nos champs et nos rives (Through our fields and shores), 1917
La vielle maison(The old house), 1920
Récits et légends (Accounts and legends), 1922
Les trois lyres (The three quadrants), 1923
Un cœur fidèle (A faithful heart), 1924
Moisson nouvelle (New harvest), 1926
Légendes gaspésiennes (Legends of Gaspé), 1927
Ma gaspé (My Gaspé), 1928
Dans la brousse: poèmes (In the bush: poems), 1935
Le rêve d’André (André’s dream), 1943
Anthologie de Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard: première poétesse du Québec (Anthology of Blanche Lamontagne-Beauregard: first female poet of Quebec), 1989
Les quatre saisons: poèmes choisis (The four seasons: selected poems), 1990
Bibliography
Eibl, Doris G. “The French-Canadian Short Story.” History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French Canadian. Ed. Reingard M. Nischik. Rochester: Camden, 2008. 264–69. Print. European Studies in American Literature and Culture.
Green, Mary Jean Matthews. “Women and the Romance of the Land.” Women and Narrative Identity: Rewriting the Quebec National Text. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2001. 49–73. eBook.
New, W. H. “Narrators: Literature to 1959.” A History of Canadian Literature. By W. H. New. 2nd ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2003. 131–202. eBook.
Reisman, Rosemary M. Canfield. “Canadian Poetry.” Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Reisman. 4th ed. Pasadena: Salem, 2011. 37–42. eBook. Topical Essays.
Reisman, Rosemary M. Canfield. “Literature in Canada.” The Twenties in America. Vol. 1. Ed. Carl E. Rollyson. Ipswich: Salem, 2012. 526–29. eBook.