HEMON, LOUIS

born Oct. 12, 1880, Brest, Fr. died July 8, 1913, near Chapleau, Ont., Can. French author of Maria Chapdelaine, the best known novel of French-Canadian pioneer life. After a few years in England as a journalist and sportswriter, Hmon went to Canada in 1911 and, while working as a farmhand, completed Maria Chapdelaine. The book is a realistic presentation of the struggle of men and women faced with the inhospitable soil and climate of the Lake St. John area in Quebec. Though there was some resentment over Hmon's failure to idealize French-Canadian life, the book soon became a model for Canadian regionalist writers. Initially serialized in a Paris magazine, Le Temps (1914), the novel appeared in book form in 1915, went through many editions, and was translated into all the major languages. Hmon did not live to see its success: he was killed in a train accident before it was published. In 1980, after many years of work, Nicole Deschamps published a new edition of Maria Chapdelaine based on Hmon's original manuscript.