Québec: A Tale of Love

Gratien Allaire is a professor of history at Laurentian University in
Sudbury, Ontario.

In this “very personal recounting of the tale of Québec,” Laurier
LaPierre uses the device of a Native character named Mascou to help him
go back and forth in time. This time traveling provides him with an
opportunity to “interview” historical figures—such as Patriote
Chevalier de Lorimier just before his execution on February 15,
1839—and witness events like the devastating Montreal fire of 1852.
The “interviews” allow LaPierre to present his own views in a rather
original way. In other cases, he quotes extensively from published
accounts (e.g., René Lévesque’s memoirs of the last negotiations
before the patriation of the Constitution in 1982).

The author is fully aware that this is not how historians define
history books. He pre-empts their criticism: “Exaggeration is the
natural consequence of passion. And what I lack in erudition, I make up
for in imagination. After all, history is 99 percent imagination.”
LaPierre may employ unconventional techniques, but the story of Quebec
he tells is a very traditional one, comprising as it does important
events, historical figures, and personal stories or anecdotes; as such,
it fits very well with the stream of Canadian history that a group of
eminent historians would like to see taught in every school in Canada.