Master of the River

Savard was born in Quebec City in August 31, 1896. His secondary education and theological training were received in Chicoutimi. Ordained a priest June 4, 1922, he went on the staff of the Séminaire de Chicoutimi where he taught until 1927. From 1927 to 1945, he served as the first priest of the new parish in St. Phillippe de Clermont in Charlevoix County. He was also for some years attached to the new settlements of the Abitibi region as a colonization priest. In 1943 he was appointed to the Faculty of Letters at Laval University, becoming in 1950 dean of that faculty and a domestic prelate. Enjoying the friendship of the people of the woods ranging through the Quebec forest, taking part in the work of the log-drive and coming down the rivers of his province, Savard was able to appreciate the beauty of the natural environment and share with drivers and woodsmen a taste for forest adventure and a love for his native soil. He always wanted to write of the men of his own stock and tell the story of his land. Menaud (the hero of Master of the River) was in his mind, part of him -- a great character -- whose nobility must be shown. The novelist returned several times to the initial version issued in 1937 to change its style and purify the poetic character of the original. Thus, a second version appeared in 1944 and a third in 1964. 'It's just that Menaud never ceased to stir me. I remained ever young like Lucon, ever ready to raise the cry of liberty to the mountain tops,' the author confided to us in a letter. Poet, novelist, playwright, Msgr. Félix-Antoine Savard still conceives and offers this work as a song inspired by the immense vistas of Canada.