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Biography & Autobiography Artists, Architects, Photographers

L'étoile du nord

Le mystère éternel de Tom Thomson et de la femme qui l’aimait

translated by Benoit Léger

by (author) Roy MacGregor

Publisher
Les Presses de l'UniversitÈ d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa Press
Initial publish date
Nov 2023
Category
Artists, Architects, Photographers, Post-Confederation (1867-), Historical, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9782760337398
    Publish Date
    Nov 2023
    List Price
    $31.99

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Description

Roy MacGregor grew up in Huntsville, close to his beloved Algonquin Park, where he spent his childhood surrounded by stories of the famous painter. At the heart of it all was MacGregor’s relative, Winnie Trainor, the “old maid” too eccentric to be considered a romantic character, even if it was well known that Tom Thomson had once been in love with her. MacGregor’s fascination with the mysterious painter went deeper. Thomson had made friends in Northern Ontario, but also enemies. He liked to drink and canoe for days on end; he was also seen as a seducer. Be that as it may, the artist’s body was found in Canoe Lake in July 1917.
The confusion surrounding his death and burial site was never resolved. In Northern Light (L’étoile du nord), MacGregor offers new leads and reveals previously hidden details of Thomson’s final days, as well as forensic data. Was Thomson a good-for-nothing womanizer or a visionary artist and gentleman? Did he drown accidentally or was he a victim of homicide? The myth of Tom Thomson has grown to obscure the reality of what happened, but the answers to many of these questions are finally revealed here.

About the authors

Benoit Léger est professeur agrégé au département d’Études françaises de l’Université Concordia où il enseigne la traduction générale et littéraire, ainsi que l’histoire de la traduction.

Benoit Léger's profile page

In the fall of 2006, Roy MacGregor, veteran newspaperman, magazine writer, and author of books, came to campus. Since 2002, MacGregor had been writing columns for the Globe and Mail, but he had a long and distinguished career in hand before he came to the national newspaper. He has won National Newspaper Awards and in 2005 was named an officer in the Order of Canada. He is the author of more than 40 books — 28 of them in the internationally successful Screech Owls mystery series for young readers — on subjects ranging from Canada, to the James Bay Cree, to hockey. That fall, he spoke to a packed room in the St. Thomas chapel. After the lecture, Herménégilde Chiasson, the Acadian poet, artist, and New Brunswick's Lieutenant Governor of the day, hosted a reception at the majestic Old Government House on the banks of the St. John River. MacGregor spent the evening surrounded by young journalists and the conversation continued late into the night. After all, there were more than three decades of stories to tell.

Roy MacGregor's profile page

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