Described by poet James Reaney as a "folkloric father figure" of Canadian literature, de Gaspé became well-known to his contemporaries only at the end of his life, after the publication of his historical novel, Les Anciens Canadiens [1863]. Delighted readers pressed him for more, and his memoirs appeared in 1866. In his work, de Gaspé has preserved the essence of the eighteenth-century man. Wit and wisdom combine with sentiment to give the reader a glimpse of the Quebec of his youth, as well as the foibles of family, friends, and historical figures.

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