Félicité Angers (Laure Conan)

Félicité Angers, pen name Laure Conan, writer (b at La Malbaie, Qué 9 Jan 1845; d at Québec C 6 June 1924). A witness to her times and the first French Canadian female novelist, Conan's writings followed the triple imperative of family, nation and religion. Un Amour vrai (1878-79) is only a long story, but Angéline de Montbrun (serialized 1881-82) is an original novel: its form and structure (correspondence, narrative, diary) respond to personal needs and the characters are more than traditional stereotypes. Its first critics called it pious, some modern criticscall it unhealthy, others note its fine psychological analysis and daring form. The heroines of La Vaine foi (1921) and L 'Obscure souffrance (1919), both in domestic service, give deeper expression to the sorrow and faith of Angéline de Montbrun.

Carried along by the literary current of the day and influenced by François-Xavier Garneau's Histoire du Canada, Conan wrote 3 historical novels. In A l'oeuvre et à l'épreuve (1891), the Christian hero, Garnier, renounces his youthful love to become a Jesuit and dies a martyr's death. In L'Oublié (1900), Closse is obedient to familial duty but still dies a hero's death for the homeland. La Sève immortelle (1925) demonstrates the courage of 2 young people who give up their foreign loves to marry each other and better serve their country.