Over the span of his thirty-year career, Professor Michel Biron鈥檚 marked contributions to Quebec and French Belgian literary history and criticism have established him as an expert in his field both in Canada and abroad. On September 15, the Royal Society of Canada honoured Professor Biron鈥檚 prolific career with the Lorne Pierce Medal. This medal, first awarded in 1926, recognizes achievement in imaginative or critical literature in either English or French.
A professor at 91社区鈥檚 D茅partement des litt茅ratures de langue fran莽aise, de traduction et de cr茅ation since 2002, Professor Biron began his abundant research career with the publication of La Modernit茅 belge : Litt茅rature et soci茅t茅 (1994), an important synthesis of Belgian literature that earned the Raymond Klibansky Prize from the Canadian Federation of Social Sciences. He then co-authored Histoire de la litt茅rature belge francophone (2003), for which he received the Prix du rayonnement des lettres belges 脿 l鈥櫭﹖ranger from the Communaut茅 fran莽aise de Belgique. 鈥淲orking on Belgian francophone literature helped me understand what is at stake in 鈥榮mall鈥� literatures, especially in a francophone context, which is completely different from the Anglophone world, since French-speaking writers have always 鈥� at least until the recent past 鈥� gravitated around Paris,鈥� Professor Biron notes.
On top of his renown on the international scene, Professor Biron is also a recognized expert in Quebec literature. His essay, L鈥檃bsence du ma卯tre (2000) 鈥� regularly cited by fellow scholars 鈥� was a finalist for the Canadian Governor General Prize, and garnered both the Prix de L'Association des Professeur.e.s de fran莽ais des universit茅s et coll猫ges canadiens and the Prix Jean 脡thier-Blais. Perhaps his most significant contribution to the domain, however, is Histoire de la litt茅rature qu茅b茅coise (2007), co-written with Fran莽ois Dumont of Universit茅 Laval and 脡lisabeth Nardout-Lafarge of Universit茅 de Montr茅al, the first veritable history of Quebec literature to be written since the Quiet Revolution. With this publication, Professor Biron and his co-authors filled a significant gap that had existed in Quebec literary criticism. The text, which won both the Prix Jean-脡thier-Blais and the Prix Gabrielle-Roy, has since become a reference tool for anyone interested in Quebec literature. Professor Biron has also lent his expertise to commenting on contemporary literature. From 2001 to 2004, he was a literary critic for Le Devoir, and he has maintained a regular column on the Quebec novel throughout his career through both Voix et images and 尝鈥橧苍肠辞苍惫茅苍颈别苍迟 magazine.
In recent years, Professor Biron devoted many years to writing the first biography of the Quebec poet Saint-Denys Garneau. Published in 2015, this work earned him the Prix Jean-脡thier-Blais for the third time in his career. This year, Professor Biron published a critical edition of Saint-Denys Garneau鈥檚 previously unpublished letters, titled De Saint-Denys Garneau, Lettres, through Presses de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al.
Through his numerous publications and innovative ideas, Professor Biron鈥檚 exemplary career has made a lasting impact on French literary criticism both on the Canadian and international scene. 鈥淚 want to express my sincere congratulations to Professor Biron for being awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal by the Royal Society of Canada,鈥� said Professor Martha Crago, Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation). 鈥淭his well-deserved medal recognizes Professor Biron鈥檚 expertise and his very significant contributions to the study of French literature from around the world.鈥�