Bertrand Vac was the nom de plume of Quebec novelist and surgeon Aimé Pelletier. Aimé Pelletier, writing as Bertrand Vac, developed a literary career while working for over fifty years at the Verdun General Hospital as a surgeon and, in semi-retirement, as a surgical assistant. His literary activities were initially hidden from his medical colleagues.
Pelletier volunteered for service during the Second World War, and was with the medical corps both during the war and until 1946. He worked in field hospitalsbehind the front lines in France, particularly during the Battle of Normandy, when he arrived in France as part of the Normandy Invasion. Pelletier's nom de plume was developed in France. After the war, Pelletier chose to study surgery in Paris, where his colleagues preferred to call him "Bernard", rather than "Aimé". Vac was chosen as his literary surname because it represented the Hindu God of Speech. Pelletier wrote fourteen books during a sixty-year literary career, primarily with publisher Le cercle du livre de France, later known Les Éditions Pierre Tisseyre. He won the Prix du Cercle du livre de France on three occasions. Pelletier is believed to be the first Quebec writer to publish a detective novel. As Bertrand Vac, Pelletier has been the subject of academic commentary and analysis. Pelletier wrote Louise Genest in 1950 and a satirical story Saint-Pépin, P.Q. in 1955. The themes of adultery in his early works were groundbreaking at that particular time in the history of Quebec literature. Many of his works are particularly referenced to Montreal's Golden Square Mile, where Pelletier lived for over half a century. None of his works have been translated from the original French. Pelletier died in Montreal; his ashes are interred at his ancestral cemetery, located in Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec.
Original works
2008 Que le diable m'emporte
1998 À mon seul désir.
1992 Les voluptueuses
1991 Rue de Bullion
1988 Bizarres
1974 Le carrefour des géants, Montréal 1820-1885
1967 Mes pensées "profondes"
Anthology
1989 Le Choix de Bertrand Vac dans son œuvre
Other
1987 Jean C. Lallemand raconte: Memoirs of an industrialist, philanthropist and music patron, with the collaboration of Bertrand Vac. Jean Clovis Lallemand was one of the founders of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, who also established prizes for musical composition and was a lifelong financial patron of classical music, particularly in Montreal and area. He was admitted to membership in the Order of Canada in 1968.
