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Lorne Pierce Et La Littérature Québécoise David M Document generated on 10/02/2021 1:21 p.m. Voix et Images Lorne Pierce et la littérature québécoise David M. Hayne L’âge de la critique, 1920-1940 Article abstract Volume 17, Number 2 (50), hiver 1992 Résumé Lome Pierce (1890-1961), directeur de la Ryerson Press, écrivain, bibliophile et URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/200959ar docteur honoris causa des Universités Laval et de Montréal, s'efforça pendant DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/200959ar quarante ans de faire connaître la littérature canadienne-française dans les milieux anglo-canadiens. Directeur d'une collection d'études en langue See table of contents française, Pierce rédigea la première histoire intégrée des deux littératures canadiennes, échangea des centaines de lettres avec les principaux auteurs québécois de son époque, et fonda la médaille Lorne-Pierce, qui sera décernée par la suite à plusieurs écrivains et critiques du Québec. Publisher(s) Université du Québec à Montréal ISSN 0318-9201 (print) 1705-933X (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Hayne, D. M. (1992). Lorne Pierce et la littérature québécoise. Voix et Images, 17(2), 232–247. https://doi.org/10.7202/200959ar Tous droits réservés © Université du Québec à Montréal, 1992 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Lome Pierce et la littérature québécoise David M. Hayne, Université de Toronto Lome Pierce (1890-1961), directeur de la Ryerson Press, écrivain, biblio­ phile et docteur honoris causa des Universités Laval et de Montréal, s'effor­ ça pendant quarante ans de faire connaître la littérature canadienne- française dans les milieux anglo-canadiens. Directeur d'une collection d'études en langue française, Pierce rédigea la première histoire intégrée des deux littératures canadiennes, échangea des centaines de lettres avec les principaux auteurs québécois de son époque, et fonda la médaille Lorne-Pierce, qui sera décernée par la suite à plusieurs écrivains et cri­ tiques du Québec. Trente ans après son décès, peu de Québécois connaissent de nos jours ie nom de Lome Pierce. Pourtant cet Ontarien fut, dans les années 1920 et 1930, le plus grand champion des lettres canadiennes- françaises du Canada anglophone. Directeur d'une collection d'ou­ vrages de critique littéraire publiés en langue française à Toronto, auteur de la première histoire intégrée des deux littératures anglo- canadienne et québécoise, et partisan infatigable de la bonne entente et du biculturalisme à l'époque des deux solitudes, Pierce a fait plus que n'importe quel autre Canadien anglophone pour faire connaître et apprécier la littérature québécoise parmi ses compatriotes. Lorne Albert Pierce1 naquit le 3 août 1890 à Delta, petit village à mi-chemin entre Ottawa et Kingston. Ses parents, Edward Albert Pierce et Harriet Louise Singleton, appartenaient à des familles d'ori­ gine irlandaise établies depuis trois générations au Canada. De sa mère, organiste: de l'église méthodiste du lieu, Pierce tenait son goût de la musique et de la lecture; à son père, marchand quincaillier, il était redevable de son sens pratique des affaires. Ayant fait ses études 1. Voir C. H. Dickinson, Lorne Pierce: A Profile, Toronto, The Ryerson Press, 1965, xii-79 p. Voix et Images, vol. XVII, n° 2 (50)¡ hiver 1992 primaires à l'école du village,-Pierce dut quitter sa famille pour aller fréquenter l'école secondaire d'Athens, petite ville prospère de la région, d'où il écrivait chaque semaine une lettré à ses parents et à sa sœur, habitude qu'il garda pendant quarante ans. < En 1908, Pierce s'inscrivit à l'Université Queen's de Kingston, où il devait rencontrer sa future épouse, Edith Chown. Gomme c'était l'usage à l'époque, les deux étudiants passaient leurs étés en Saskat­ chewan où Edith travaillait comme institutrice tandis que Lomé était étudiant pasteur dans un village voisin. Lecteur vorace sachant meu­ bler ses loisirs, et habile organisateur d'activités paroissiales, Piercé rèsta dans l'Ouest jusqu'en Ì9Ì4; à partir de cette date, il fit sa théo­ logie, à l'Université Victoria de Toronto d'abord et ensuite au Union Theological Seminary de New York. Ordonné pasteur méthodiste éñ Í9I6, Pierce reçut sa première charge à Ottawa, où il épousa Edith; ils eurent deux enfants, une fille et un fils. Refusé pour le service militaire à causé de sa santé fragile, Pierce travailla dans un hôpital militaire à Kingston jusqu'à la fin dé la guerre de 1914-1918. Nommé ensuite pasteur d'une paroisse près dé Morrisburg, il reprit ses études et obtint un doctorat en théologie au Theological Collège de Montréal. Le jeune pasteur aux connaissances encyclopédiques était déjà un conférencier recherché: uñe conférence qu'il prononça en 1920 sur la littérature russe attira sur lui l'attention des membres d'un comité dé la Ryérson Press de Toronto, qui étaient justement à là recherche d'un conseiller littéraire pour leur maison d'édition. Pierce accepta le poste; deux ans plus tard, il fut nommé directeur littéraire de la maison, titre qu'il conserva jusqu'au moment de sa retraité en I960. Il mourut le 27 novembre I96I à Toronto. , Doué d'une force de travail extraordinaire, Piercé mena de front pendant quarante ans ses fonctions d'éditeur éñ chef d'une des plus grandes maisons d'édition du Canada, un vaste programme de recherches et de publications personnelles, et une œuvré d'animation et d'organisation qui faisait de lui un fondateur ou un officier dé l'Association des écrivains canadiens, de la Société bibliographique du Canada, de l'Association canadienne des bibliothèques, du Musée des beáux-árts de l'Ontario, de la Canadian Hearing Society et dé combien d'organismes encore. Le père Âugusté-M. Morissèt, ancien bibliothé­ caire de l'Université d'Ottawa, résuma en deux phrasés cette carrière prodigieuse: H a été à la fois homme de lettres, écrivain; animateur et directeur dé collections, bibliographe, bibliophile, pour fout dire, un intellectuel de grande classé et un puissant homme d'action. Sá production littéraire comprend plus de 300 textes dont quelque cinquante volumes et bro- • chures, l60 articles de revue et dix ouvrages encore à l'état de manuscrit2. En dépit d'une santé toujours précaire et d'une surdité gênante, Pierce a fourni dans sa vie le travail de plusieurs personnes et a gardé un contact amical et constant avec presque.tous les écrivains, tant anglophones que francophones, de son temps: une correspondance de quelque 16 000 lettres, conservée dans les archives de l'Université Queen's, en est la preuve. Ses initiatives en faveur d'un Canada bilingue et biculturel, proposées en pleine crise économique, parais­ saient des folies à leur date, mais la postérité a reconnu en Pierce un grand devancier dont la seule faute était d'être «né trop tôt dans un pays trop jeune». À peine installé dans son poste de directeur littéraire, Pierce conçut dès l'automne 1922 l'un de ses projets les plus audacieux: il lancerait une série de quarante volumes consacrés aux principaux auteurs canadiens des deux langues3. Chaque ouvrage devait contenir la biographie de l'écrivain en question, des extraits de ses écrits, un essai critique sur son œuvre, une bibliographie exhaustive et un in­ dex. La série aurait des patrons distingués: le prospectus comportait deux introductions, l'une en langue anglaise signée par sir Robert Borden, premier ministre du Canada de 1911 à 1920, l'autre en fran-^ çais, due à la plume de sir Lomer Gouin, premier ministre du Québec entre 1905 et 1920. L'éditeur associé responsable des volumes en langue française était le notaire Victor Morin, président de la Société Saint-Jean Baptiste et auteur d'ouvrages sur l'histoire de Montréal et sur la science du blason. Le sous-titre de la série affirmait clairement son caractère biculturel: «From Haliburton, Garneau and Richardson to Parker, Frechette and Carman4.» Les cinq premiers volumes, tous en anglais, virent le jour en 1923; un sixième les suivit en 1924. Les trois premiers ouvrages rédigés en français — et en l'occurrence les seuls parus en cette langue — sorti­ rent en 1925 et 1926. Le premier titre français fut le Louis Frechette de Henri d'Arles. Ce dernier avait à son actif une dizaine d'ouvrages de critique et d'histoire lorsqu'il s'attaqua à la biographie de Frechette, sujet qu'il avait déjà traité dans ses Essais et Conférences (1909). Beaudé fit parvenir son manuscrit à Pierce au mois de novembre 1924 2. Ibid., p. xi-xii. 3. Pour de plus amples détails sur cette collection, voir Margery Fee, «Lome Pierce, Ryerson Press and the Makers of Canadian Literature Series», Cahiers de là Société bibliographique du Canada, n° 24, 1985, p. 51-71. 4. Ibid., p. 70? (20 nov. 1924)5: les placards et les épreuves sont conservés aux ar­ chives de l'Université Queen's. L'ouvrage parut sans doute au début de 1925, avec une dédicace au ducide Bauffremont dont Beaudé avait peut-être fait la connaissance au cours d'un voyage qu'il avait fait en France en 1920. Monsieur le duc lui rendit la politesse en signant dans L'Action française de Montréal un compte rendu dithyrambique6. Une' autre recension, plus concise bien que toujours favorable, parut dansi Le Canada français7. La deuxième étude en langue française fut le François-Xavier Garneau de Gustave, Larictot (1883-1975).
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