Beyond This Site

The case of Aurore Gagnon has sparked considerable interest among Quebec researchers from many disciplines: history, literature, psychology, and others. Studies are quite numerous and concern various aspects of the story. If you would like to read more on the Gagnon affair, we suggest the following publications. Please note that a list of literary and dramatic works inspired by the events in Fortierville in 1920 is available in the Echoes section.

Bizier, Marie-Hélène. "Aurore Gagnon, l’enfant martyre, 1920." In La petite histoire du crime au Québec. Montréal: Stanké, 1981, 180-85.

Cliche, Marie-Aimée. Maltraiter ou punir? La violence envers les enfants dans les familles québécoises, 1850-1969. Boréal, forthcoming.

Gaudreau, Jean. "Aurore, l’enfant martyre. Essai sur la violence faite aux enfants." In Santé mentale au Québec 17, no. 1 (1992): 55-72.

Gossage, Peter. "Aurore Gagnon." In Oxford Companion to Canadian History. Ed by Gerald Hallowell. Oxford University Press, 2004, 250.

Gossage, Peter. "La marâtre: Marie-Anne Houde and the Myth of the Wicked Stepmother in Quebec." In Canadian Historical Review, 76, no. 4 (1995): 563-597.

Gossage, Peter. "La marâtre: Marie-Anne Houde and the Myth of the Wicked Stepmother in Quebec" (abridged version). In Histories of Canadian Children and Youth ed. by Joy Parr and Nancy Janovicek. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2003, 147-166.

Labbé, Jean. «Il y a 75 ans décédait Aurore Gagnon...». In Le clinicien. February 1995, 94-114.

Le Blanc, Alonzo. "Aurore l’enfant martyre." In Dictionnaire des oeuvres littéraires du Québec. Vol. 3, 1940-1959. Montréal: Fides, 1978, 97-100.

Le Blanc, Alonzo. Aurore l'enfant martyre. Histoire et présentation de la pièce par Alonzo Le Blanc. Montréal: VLB éditeur, 1982. (Reconstruction and analysis of the text by Léon Petitjean and Henri Rollin.)

Le Blanc, Alonzo. "Aurore Gagnon." In Dictionnaire biographique du Canada. Vol. 14, 1911-1920. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 1998, 417-419.

Raymond, Francine. "Consécration d’une marâtre québécoise: Le cas d’Aurore l’enfant martyre." Masters thesis, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2000.

René, Michel. "La petite Aurore et Le drame d’Aurore, l’enfant martyre." In Dictionnaire des oeuvres littéraires du Québec. Vol. 3, 1940-1959. Montréal: Fides, 1978, 749-751.

Tremblay, Danielle. "Un cas québécois de paralittérature: Aurore l’enfant martyre (1921-1936)." Masters thesis, Université de Sherbrooke, 1987.

Tremblay-Daviault, Christiane. "La petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre (1951)." In Structures mentales et sociales du cinéma québécois (1942-1953). Un cinéma orphelin. Montréal: Québec/Amérique, 1981, 209-225.

Weinmann, Heinz. Cinéma de l’imaginaire québécois: de la petite Aurore à Jésus de Montréal. Montréal: L’Hexagone, 1990.

To go even further, you could make your way to the National Archives of Quebec in order to come into direct contact yourself with the judicial documents relating to the criminal proceedings brought against Télesphore Gagnon and Marie-Anne Houde. These documents -- of which a large selection is available on this site -- are kept in the Cour des sessions de la paix, greffe de Québec (Sessions of the Peace Court, Quebec City Registry) fonds (TP12, S1), in the Cour du banc du roi, greffe de Québec (Court of King's Bench, Quebec City Registry) fonds (TP9, S1), in the Documents de tribunaux de la période confédérative (Court Documents from the Time of Confederation) collection (TP999), as well in the Ministère de la Justice (Ministry of Justice) fonds (E 17). In order to make your task easier, the National Archives of Quebec has produced a separate working tool on the Gagnon affair. Its reference is:

Poirier, Claude and Gérald Plourde. Aurore l’enfant martyre. Archives Nationales du Québec, Quebec City, July 22, 2003.