Everything about Flemish Literature totally explained
Flemish literature is
literature from
Flanders, the northern part of
Belgium. The older
Flemish writers were contributors to
Dutch literature in the broad sense of nationality; after the separation of Belgium, however, from the
Netherlands, when Belgium became independent in
1830, there was a great revival of Flemish literature that distinguished from the Netherlands in language and culture.
19th Century
The immediate result of the
Belgian Revolution was a reaction against everything associated with the Dutch, and a disposition to regard the French language as the speech of liberty and independence. The provisional government of 1830 suppressed the official use of the
Dutch language, which was relegated to the rank of a
patois. For some years before 1830
Jan Frans Willems (
1793-
1846) had been advocating the claims of the Dutch language. He had done his best to allay the irritation between the
Netherlands and Belgium and to prevent a separation. As archivist of
Antwerp he made use of his opportunities by writing a history of Flemish letters. After the revolution his Dutch sympathies had made it necessary for him to live in seclusion, but in
1835 he settled at
Ghent, and devoted himself to the cultivation of Flemish. He edited old Flemish classics,
Reinaert de Vos (
1836), the rhyming
Chronicles of Jan van Heelu and
Jean Leclerc, etc., and gathered round him a band of Flemish enthusiasts, the chevalier
Philip Blommaert (1809-1871),
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck (1805-1847),
Frans Rens (1805-1874),
Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert (1809-1872),
Prudens van Duyse (1804-1859), and others.
Philipp Blommaert, who was born at Ghent on
27 August 1809, founded in
1834 in his native town the
Nederduitsche letteroefeningen, a review for the new writers, and it was speedily followed by other Flemish organs, and by literary societies for the promotion of Dutch in Flanders. In 1851 a central organization for the Flemish propaganda was provided by a society, named after the father of the movement, the
Willemsfonds. The
Roman Catholic Flemings founded in
1874 a rival
Davidsfonds, called after the energetic
Jean-Baptist David (1801-1866), professor at the
Universite Catholique de Louvain (
Leuven), and the author of a Dutch history book on Belgium (
Vaderlandsche historie, Louvain, 1842-1866). As a result of this propaganda the Dutch language was placed on an equality with French in law, and in administration, in
1873 and
1878, and in the schools in
1883. Finally in
1886 a Flemish Academy was established by royal authority at Ghent, where a course in Flemish literature had been established as early as
1854.
The claims put forward by the Flemish school were justified by the appearance (1837) of
In 't Wonderjaer 1566 (
In the Wonderful year) of
Hendrik Conscience, who roused national enthusiasm by describing the heroic struggles of the Flemings against the Spaniards. Conscience was eventually to make his greatest successes in the description of contemporary Flemish life, but his historical romances and his popular history of Flanders helped to give a popular basis to a movement which had been started by professors and scholars.
The first poet of the new school was
Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck, the best known of whose poems are those on the three sister cities of
Bruges, Ghent and
Antwerp (
De drie zustersteden, vaderlandsche trilogie, Ghent, 1846), in which he makes an impassioned protest against the adoption of French ideas, manners and language, and the neglect of Flemish tradition. The book speedily took its place as a Flemish classic. Ledeganck, who was a magistrate, also translated the French code into Flemish.
Jan Theodoor van Rijswijck (1811-1849), after serving as a volunteer in the campaign of
1830, settled down as a clerk in Antwerp, and became one of the hottest champions of the Flemish movement. He wrote a series of political and satirical songs, admirably suited to his public. The romantic and sentimental poet,
Jan van Beers, was typically Flemish in his sincere and moral outlook on life.
Prudens van Duyse, whose most ambitious work was the epic
Artevelde (1859), is perhaps best remembered by a collection (1844) of poems for children.
Peter Frans Van Kerckhoven (1818-1857), a native of Antwerp, wrote novels, poems, dramas, and a work on the Flemish revival (
De Vlaemsche Beweging,
1847).
Antwerp produced a realistic novelist in
Jan Lambrecht Domien Sleeckx (1818-1901). An inspector of schools by profession, he was an indefatigable journalist and literary critic. He was one of the founders in
1844 of the
Vlaemsch Belgie, the first daily paper in the Flemish interest. His works include a long list of plays, among them
Jan Steen (1852), a comedy;
Gretry, which gained a national prize in
1861;
Vissers van Blankenberge (1863); and the patriotic drama of
Zannekin (1865). His talent as a novelist was diametrically opposed to the idealism of Conscience. He was precise, sober and concrete in his methods, relying for his effect on the accumulation of carefully observed detail. He was particularly successful in describing the life of the shipping quarter of his native town. Among his novels are:
In't Schipperskwartier(1856), Dirk Meyer (1860),
Tybaerts en Cie (1867),
Kunst en Liefde (Art and Love, 1870), and
Vesalius in Spanje (1895). His complete works were collected in 17 volumes (1877-1884).
Jan Renier Snieders (1812-1888) wrote novels dealing with North Brabant; his brother,
August Snieders (1825-1904), began by writing historical novels in the manner of Conscience, but his later novels are satires of contemporary society. A more original talent was displayed by
Anton Bergmann (1835-1874), who, under the pseudonym of Tony, wrote
Ernest Staas, Advocaat, which gained the quennial prize of literature in 1874. In the same year appeared the
Novellen of the sisters
Rosalie (1834-1875) and
Virginie Loveling (1836-1923). These simple and touching stories were followed by a second collection in 1876. The sisters had published a volume of poems in
1870. Virginie Lovelings gifts of fine and exact observation soon placed her in the front rank of Flemish novelists. Her political sketches,
In onze Vlaamsche gewesten (1877), were published under the name of W. G. E. Walter.
Sophie (1885),
Een dure Eed (1892), and
Het Land der Verbeelding (1896) are among the more famous of her later works.
Reimond Stijns (1850-1905) and
Isidoor Teirlinck (1851-1934) produced in collaboration one very popular novel,
Arm Vlaanderen (1884), and some others, and have since written separately.
Cyriel Buysse, a nephew of Virginie Loveling, is a disciple of
Émile Zola.
Het Recht van den Sterkste (The Right of the Strongest, 1893) is a picture of vagabond life in Flanders;
Schoppenboer (The Knave of Spades, 1898) deals with brutalized peasant life; and
Sursum corda (1895) describes the narrowness and religiosity of village life.
In poetry
Julius de Geyter (1830-1905), author of a rhymed translation of Reinaert (1874), an epic poem on Charles V. (1888), etc. produced a social epic in three parts,
Drie menschen van in de wieg tot in het graf (Three Men from the Cradle to the Grave,
1861), in which he propounded radical and humanitarian views. The songs of
Julius Vuylsteke (1836-1903) are full of liberal and patriotic ardour; but his later life was devoted to politics rather than literature. He had been the leading spirit of a students association at Ghent for the propagation of Flemish views, and the Willemsfonds owed much of its success to his energetic co-operation. His
Uit het studentenleven appeared in
1868, and his poems were collected in 1881. The poems of Mme van Ackere (1803-1884), née
Maria Doolaeghe, were modelled on Dutch originals.
Joanna Courtmans (1811-1890), née Berchmans, owed her fame rather to her tales than her poems; she was above all a moralist and her fifty tales are sermons on economy and the practical virtues. Other poets were
Emmanuel Hiel, author of comedies, opera libretti and some admirable songs; the abbé
Guido Gezelle, who wrote religious and patriotic poems in the dialect of West Flanders;
Lodewijk de Koninck (1838-1924), who attempted a great epic subject in
Menschdom Verlost (1872);
Johan Michiel Dautzenberg (1808-1869) from
Heerlen, author of a volume of charming
Volksliederen. The best of Dautzenberg's work is contained in the posthumous volume of 1869, published by his son-in-law,
Frans de Cort (1834-1878), who was himself a song-writer, and translated songs from
Robert Burns, from
Jacques Jasmin and from German. The
Makamen en Ghazelen (1866), adapted from
Rückert's version of Hariri, and other volumes by
Jan Ferguut (J. A. van Droogenbroeck, 1835-1902) show a growing preoccupation with form, and with the work of
Gentil Theodoor Antheunis (1840-1907), they prepare the way for the ingenious and careful workmanship of the younger school of poets, of whom
Charles Polydore de Mont was the leader. He was born at Wambeke in Brabant in
1857, and became professor in the academy of the fine arts at Antwerp. He introduced something of the ideas and methods of contemporary French writers into Flemish verse; and explained his theories in
1898 in an Inleiding tot de Poezie. Among
Pol de Mont's numerous volumes of verse dating from 1877 onwards are
Claribella (1893), and
Iris (1894), which contains amongst other things a curious
Uit de Legende van Jeschoea-ben-Josief, a version of the gospel story from a Jewish peasant.
Mention should also be made of the history of Ghent (
Gent van den vroegsten Tijd tot heden, 1882-1889) by
Frans de Potter (1834-1904), and of the art criticisms of
Max Rooses (1839-1914), curator of the
Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, and of
Julius Sabbe (1846-1910).
20th Century
In the twentieth Century Flemish literature evolved further and was influenced by the international literary evolution.
Cyriel Buysse was a
naturalist, while
Stijn Streuvels and
Felix Timmermans were
neo-romanticists.
After
World War I the poet
Paul van Ostaijen was an important representative of
expressionism in his poems. In between
World War I and
World War II,
Gerard Walschap,
Willem Elsschot and
Marnix Gijsen were prominent Flemish writers. After World War II the first
avant-garde magazine
Tijd en Mens (E: Time and People) was published from 1949 up to 1955. In 1955 it was succeeded by
Gard Sivik (E: Civil Guard) (up to 1964), with
Hugues C. Pernath and
Paul Snoek. The most prominent Flemish
Vijftiger (E: Generation fifties) was
Hugo Claus, who plays an important role in Flemish literature since then. Other postwar poets were
Anton van Wilderode and
Christine D'Haen. Some of the writers who made their debut after
1960 are
Eddy Van Vliet,
Herman de Coninck,
Roland Jooris and
Luuk Gruwez.
The renewal of the Flemish prose immediately after World War II was the work of Hugo Claus and
Louis Paul Boon.
Johan Daisne and
Hubert Lampo introduced
magic realism in Flemish literature.
Ivo Michiels and
Paul De Wispelaere represented the
new novel. In the eighties
Walter van den Broeck and
Monika van Paemel continued to write in the style of Louis Paul Boon.
Other contemporary authors are
Ward Ruyslinck and
Jef Geeraerts,
Kristien Hemmerechts,
Eric de Kuyper,
Stefan Hertmans,
Pol Hoste,
Paul Claes, and
Jos Vandeloo. In the nineties the
Generation X, with
Herman Brusselmans and
Tom Lanoye made their debut on the Flemish literary scene.
Overview
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