Pierre Petitclair
Pierre Petitclair was a notable figure in Canadian literature, born on October 13, 1813, in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec. Coming from humble beginnings as the son of uneducated farmers, he received a foundational education that led him to the Petit Séminaire de Québec, where he graduated in 1829. Petitclair began his career as a clerk in the court record office and later trained in law while nurturing his literary interests. His writing journey included publishing his first work of fiction, "Le Revenant," and he became recognized for his comedic talent.
In 1837, Petitclair made history as the first native French Canadian playwright with the publication of "Griphon: Ou, La Vengeance d'un valet," though it was never staged. He continued to create works that blended comedy and melodrama, with his play "La Donation" being the first to be performed, premiering in 1842. Over his career, Petitclair wrote several other plays and published poems in various literary magazines. Although many of his works were lost, "Une Partie de campagne," a comedy reflecting on French heritage, survived and was published posthumously in 1865. Petitclair's contributions to literature continued to be celebrated after his death on August 15, 1860, in Pointe-au-Pot, Labrador.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Pierre Petitclair
Writer
- Born: October 13, 1813
- Birthplace: Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaure, Quebec, Canada
- Died: August 15, 1860
- Place of death: Pointe-au-Pot, Labrador, Canada
Biography
Pierre Petitclair was born October 13, 1813, in Saint- Augustin-de-Desmaures, a farming village in Quebec, Canada. Although his parents, Pierre and Moisan Petitclair, were uneducated farmers, they enrolled their son at the local primary school and in 1825 at the Petit Seminaire de Quebec, from which he graduated in 1829. Petitclair began working as a clerk in the court record office in Quebec City and received legal training under Joseph-Francois Perrault.
In these years, he published his first work of fiction, “Le Revenant,” a story in verse about a macabre ruse a condemned man uses to escape from prison. The story was published in Canadien and showed Petitclair’s talent for comedy. Petitclair left his clerkship to become a copyist for Archibald Campbell in 1833. Under Campbell, who had a scholarly bent and who was a patron of the arts, Petitclair explored his interests in literature and writing. Between 1836 and 1839, three of his poems were published in Canadien, Telegraphe, and Fantasque.
In 1837, he became the first native French Canadian to have a play published when Griphon: Ou, La Vengeance d’un valet was published. A three-act farce that shows the influence of Shakespeare, Moliere, and other playwrights Petitclair admired, the play was never performed. In the winter of 1837 and 1838, Petitclair accepted a job as private tutor to the twelve children of wealthy businessman Guillame-Louis Labadie. Travel with the family took him to Labrador and other points north, although he occasionally returned to the Quebec City area. In 1840, Fantasque published his story “Une Aventure au Labrador,” a psychological fantasy in which a man’s delusions under duress assume subjective reality. In 1842, he published three poems, and he became the first native French Canadian to have a play performed when La Donation, a blend of comedy and melodrama, was staged by Les Amateurs Typographes in Quebec City on November 16, 1842. The play was published in serial installments in the newspaper L’Artisan later that year and was successfully revived several times in the next decade.
In 1848, James Huston collected a handful of Petitclair’s poems and stories, as well as the full text of La Donation, for inclusion in the two-volume Le Repertoire national. Petitclair is known to have written three more plays, including Qui trop embrasse mal etreint and La Brigand, but only one, Une Partie de campagne, is known to have survived. A comedy of manners in the tradition of Augustin Eugene Scribe and Jean-FrançoisRegnard, it tells of a young Qubecois’s failed attempts to repudiate his French heritage. Petitclair wrote the play in 1856, and it opened in Quebec City on April 22, 1857. Petitclair died on August 15, 1860, in Pointe-au-Pot, Labrador. Un Partie de campagne was published posthumously in 1865.