Georges Bugnet
Georges Bugnet was a French-Canadian author, botanist, and community leader, born on February 23, 1879, in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. He studied at the Université de Dijon and the Sorbonne, initially training for the priesthood before turning to writing and botany. In 1905, Bugnet immigrated to Canada with his wife, Julia Ley, where they settled in Alberta and raised nine children. He became actively involved in his community by founding the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta and serving as a trustee for local schools. Bugnet was known for his agricultural innovations, including developing hardier varieties of pine and hybrid roses suited to Alberta’s climate.
His literary career began in the 1920s, and his works often explored themes of nature and the settlers' experiences in the Canadian wilderness. Although his writing was largely overlooked in Quebec, modern scholars recognize Bugnet's contributions to French Canadian literature, particularly for his novel "La Forêt." His legacy is honored through the Georges Bugnet Award presented by the Writer’s Guild of Alberta, and in 1978, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta marking the centennial of his birth. Bugnet passed away on January 11, 1981, in St. Albert, Alberta, leaving a lasting impact on both literature and agriculture in Canada.
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Subject Terms
Georges Bugnet
Writer
- Born: February 23, 1879
- Birthplace: Chalon-sur-Saône, Burgandy, France
- Died: January 11, 1981
- Place of death: St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
Biography
Georges-Charles-Jules Bugnet was born on February 23, 1879, at Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy, France, to Claude- François Bugnet and Josephine Sibut-Plourde Bugnet. He grew up in Dijon. Initially intending to become a priest, Burget attended a seminary but later studied at the Université de Dijon and the Sorbonne. In 1904, Bugnet briefly edited the periodical La Croix de la Haute Savoie, quitting due to religious disagreements with the publisher. Bugnet married Julia Ley in 1904, and the couple immigrated to Canada the next year to homestead land the Canadian government offered to European immigrants. They first lived in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, then relocated to St. Albert in neighboring Alberta. By March, 1906, Bugnet settled a forested acreage north of Edmonton close to Lac Majeau. He and his wife had nine children.
Bugnet originally planned to earn money from his Canadian adventure and then return to France, but he remained in Canada. Bugnet created the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta and encouraged other settlers who came to Canada by sharing his experiences and telling them how to survive rugged conditions. A trustee for Lac Ste Anne schools and the secretary of the Rich Valley School District, Bugnet recorded names of school-age children and listened to people’s educational concerns. Aware of how the harsh western Canadian climate damaged plants, Bugnet produced stronger varieties, crossing Russian and native pine seeds to create the Lagoda pine. Bugnet created hybrid rose varieties from domestic and wild European roses, enhancing hardiness. In the 1960’s, Alberta government officials recognized Bugnet’s botanical achievements by naming a wooded preserve the Bugnet Plantation Historical Site.
Around 1920, Buget devoted time to writing, hoping to earn extra money. His topics for novels, short stories, poems, and essays often featured trees and flowers as characters and explored settlers’ romanticized perceptions of nature and puzzled reactions to wilderness conditions. Bugnet also wrote plays and edited an Alberta newspaper, L’Union, requiring weekly visits to Edmonton. He created the pseudonym Henri Doutremont to publish his first two novels, Le Lys de sang and Nipsya, in the early 1920’s. By 1934, Bugnet published the first novel, Siraf, credited to his name. His work appeared in magazines and journals, including La Canada Francais and Les Idées. Bugnet emphasized ecological issues in his writing, revealing his respect for plants and the environment and anger at human destruction of landscapes. When cataracts impaired his vision, Bugnet stopped writing. He lived in a retirement home in Legal, Alberta, for several years, and died on January 11, 1981, at St Albert, Alberta.
Most contemporary critics in Quebec ignored or dismissed Bugnet’s writing. Modern scholars consider his works, especially La Forêt (1935; The Forest, 1976), significant for their realism, voice, irony, satirical tone, and religiosity, deeming them examples of notable French Canadian literature produced in the 1930’s and providing a unique Francophone perspective. Scholars identified Bugnet as a significant western Canadian author, depicting settlements and the interaction of natives and French Canadians in western territories. The University of Alberta gave Bugnet a doctorate, honoring the centennial of his birth in 1978. The Writer’s Guild of Alberta presents the annual Georges Bugnet Award to recognize outstanding fiction.