CHOQUETTE, ROBERT GUY

born April 22, 1905, Manchester, N.H., U.S. American-born French-Canadian writer whose work was regarded as revolutionary and who influenced an entire younger generation of poets. Choquette moved to Montreal at the age of eight. His first collection of poetry, travers les vents (1925; "Through the Winds"), won him a reputation based on his disregard of syntax and his freedom of expression. For this volume, Choquette received the Prix David in 1926; his collection of poetry Metropolitan Museum (1930) won it for him again in 1931. Other of his books of poetry included Suite marine (1953), the influential two-volume Oeuvres potiques (1956; "Poetic Works"), and Pomes choisis (1970; "Select Poems"). La Pension Leblanc (1928), Choquette's first published novel, provided a foundation on which future television and radio series were to be based. A group of recognizable characters from his novels Le Cur de Village (1936; "The Village Curate") and Les Velder (1941) peopled a radio series called "Le Cur de Village." Two other serials, "La Pension Velder" and "Mtropole," followed. Choquette also brought out a collection of prose sketches, Le Fabuliste La Fontaine Montral (1935), Language and Religion (1975), and Moi, Ptrouchka (1980), and a collection of both prose and poetry entitled Le Choix de Robert Choquette dans l'oeuvre de Robert Choquette (1981). Choquette was elected to the French-Canadian Academy and the Ronsard Academy (Paris), and he served as Canadian consul general to Bordeaux, France (1965-68), and Canadian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay (1968-70).