Belgian Literature

[Eric]

Belgian literature comes in two flavours: that written in French and that written in Dutch.

Because there are more powerful countries on either side that speak these two languages, Flemish and Wallonian literature are not as well known in Britain as they might be. But consider this: there are Flemish authors writing in Dutch in Ghent, Aalst, Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, and so on, which are cities that are, as the crow flies, nearer to London than Edinburgh or Glasgow! While Brits know "everything" about Irvine Welsh, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Muriel Spark, Neil M. Gunn, Alasdair Gray, Liz Heron, Ian Rankin, and a host of other names from Scotland, they know virtually nothing about what the Flemings wrote in French, and write in Dutch.

If you asked, say, 2,000 people on the streets of central London, only a dozen (apart from Belgian, French and Dutch tourists) would be able to name one Belgian author, let alone actually having read one. And nine of those would be clever-dicks who had realised that Simenon was Belgian, not French.

In the nineteenth century, when the language of education in Belgium was French, there were quite a few Flemish authors who spoke a dialect of Dutch at home, but would write in the language of elegance and education, French. Authors like Maeterlinck, Verhaeren, Ghelderode and a host of more minor authors were French-writing Flemings.

Scroll forward to 2008. Nowadays the Belgian literary communities are more neatly divided into Dutch and French-writing authors. The tragedy is that authors writing in both French and Dutch in Belgium are almost always published abroad, i.e. in France or the Netherlands. The Belgian publishing industry is not strong - and yet some of the most innovative authors are Belgian. So Nothomb, Harpman and Toussaint are recognised as Paris authors, and Boon and Timmermans would never have become as famous as they are (in the Low Countries, as they are virtually unknown in Blighty) if they hadn't published in the Netherlands.

I hope to be able to write things about Belgian authors on this forum, but I cannot deny that interest will soon pall on the World Literature Forum, unless those that cannot read Dutch or French find a few translations available.

There are a few English translations doing the rounds (Google for more information). Louis Paul Boon and Ivo Michiels have both had novels of theirs published in English translation. The recently deceased Hugo Claus also has his major novel "The Sorrow of Belgium" in English translation. Nothomb I have dealt with elsewhere. But there are quite a considerable number of contemporary Flemish and Wallonian authors that will be entirely unknown in Britain. I hope I can introduce people to a few, over time.

One final point about language usage. The culture, history and geography are Flemish or Wallonian, the language is Dutch or French. Except in one case: those writing in a very strong dialect of French, or language in its own right, depending on taste, do write in Wallonian. But most Flemish authors do not write in dialect, they write in standard Dutch, with some regional vocabulary input.

[Stewart]

Louis Paul Boon

I have his Summer In Termuren but it's a huge book and, from what I remember when I last looked, he wasn't one for many capital letters or, indeed, paragraphs. I'm more likely to give Chapel Road a try before that, which makes sense, since Summer In Termuren is seen as a sequel of sorts.

[Eric]

Yes, it would seem eminently logical to start with "Chapel Road", then, if you're still on board, read the sequel, which does revisit many of the characters. They are thick books, no doubt about that.

If you want to read more about Boon, you can find my article at:

http://www.centerforbookculture.org/...no19/boon.html

There is also the brief storyline of the two books set out at:

http://www.centerforbookculture.org/...list/boon.html

"Chapel Road" was translated into English by a Dutchwoman and her American husband, about 30-40 years ago, while the sequel "Summer in Termuren" was recently translated into English by the former Professor of Dutch at London University, Paul Vincent.

These two books are, rightly, the most famous of Boon's novels as they were very innovative when written in the early and mid-1950s. But, as you can read in my article, he also wrote several committed novels, as Boon's political affiliations hovered somewhere between Communism and Anarchism. One shorter book, available in English and, in my opinion, more readable is "Minuet".

One aspect of Boon's wide-ranging interests cropped up again recently, involving what I described in the article:

Between the ?50s and Boon?s death in 1979, his authorial focus narrowed to two main interests: politics and sex. While maintaining his socialist-anarchist commitment to the underdog, Boon became more and more interested in the production of erotic literature. He began collecting photographs of naked or barely dressed women in 1954, and had, by the time of his death, nearly 24,000 pictures of this kind, all of them meticulously classified in various thematic series. In his writing too, he began to display a penchant for teenage girls, and as time went by, this interest?which was by no means kept a secret from his readers?
began to dominate his work. It?s not unlikely that his predilections in this arena cost him the Nobel Prize, for which he?d been nominated many years in a row.

This collections of naked women and girls was banned from Antwerp recently by the council, but the city of Ghent gladly staged the exhibition of photos from it instead. Boon freaks can't get enough of it. See the Wikipedia (in English):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenomenale_Feminateek

But despite his dirty old man aspect, the Socialist side of him caused him to write umpteen novels about the pretty grim lot of the working classes in Flanders during the Industrial Revolution in Belgium. In those days, the French-speakers owned the factories and the Flemish factory workers were looked down upon. Now, anno 2008, the tabled are turned. The Flemings wield the political and economic power (since the Wallonian coal mines closed down) and it is the French-speaking south of Belgium that is relatively poor and chaotic. And Boon's penchant for teenage girls is, quite obviously, no longer a laughing matter after the Dutroux affair and, more recently, the arrest of the man termed The Butcher of the Ardennes.

[Eric]

Kristien Hemmerechts

Here are a few details by another Flemish author, quite different to Louis Paul Boon, called Kristien Hemmerechts (born 1957). I find it strange that more or less nothing written by her has appeared in English translation.

First look at the bibliography on the Wikipedia, at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristien_Hemmerechts

There, you will see, in this article in English, that Hemmerechts, who is herself a Professor of English literature, has published a lot of books. The Wikipedia, for some reason, doesn't bother to translate the words "novelle" (novella), "korte verhalen" (short-stories),"roman" (novel), "resiverhalen" (travel literature) and "dagboek" (diary), but these categories in themselves give an idea of the breadth of her work.

So, she's written at least ten novels, and a total of some 50 short-stories. In fact, the first three short-stories she ever wrote were in English; she was living with a Welshman at the time. But she soon realised that to express yourself fully, you have to write in your mother-tongue.

Her work covers life very much from a woman's point of view and is often (semi-) autobiographical, realist and contemporary: growing up, having children (and losing them!), human relationships, sexuality. Further articles in English about some of her work are at:

http://www.nlpvf.nl/basic/auteur1.php?Author_ID=214

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/radiobooks/080319rb

[Heteronym]

I believe I've only read one Belgian author to date: Georges Rodenbach. And his Bruges-la-Morte left me rather indifferent. It struck me as Hitchcock's Vertigo devoid of any excitement and twists. It had elegant prose and a morbid disposition, which I tend to admire, but the central idea seemed to uninteresting. The idea of a man falling in love with his dead lover's lookalike has been done a lot better since then. It'll never get better nor more obsessive than Ellroy's The Black Dahlia

Now for me the really great Belgian writers made their mark in comics: Herg?, Jean-Michel Charlier, Peyo, Edgar P. Jacobs, Andr? Franquin, etc.

[Eric]

If you want excitement, you can indeed read comic strips, where your powers of imagination are given a visual crutch to lean on: pictures.

Whether you find Rodenbach interesting or dull (his other novel about a bell-ringer is also published by Dedalus) he was a Fleming. The sad thing is that when people speak about Belgian literature, they forget about Flemings who, nowadays, write in their native Dutch. While the literature of the Netherlands, also written in Dutch, tends to be more realist, the Flemings have some really interesting Modernist, postmodernist, and various other types of experimental literature. Some Dutch literature can be bombastic; most Flemish literature is more subtle.

Another point: Rodenbach wrote in the 1890s. Why don't Brits have the slightest idea what Flemings like him wrote in the 1990s? BelgLit doesn't stop at 1900. There is a fruitful tension in Flemish literature which doesn't exist in the literature of the Netherlands. This is stylistic influence from French. Even when writing in Dutch, the Flemings are always aware of the other national language. The Dutch, on the other hand, have put all their language eggs in the English basket. So they would rather ape the Brits or Yanks. And I for one don't want to read epigones of things I could more easily read in English.

[fausto]

Nice post here. A few names I'd like to add.

Classics:
Henri Michaux -- a tough one to include: got the French nationality in '55 and denied afterwards any link with Belgium. Top "surrealist" poet, and I guess a well known name.
Henry Bauchau -- still alive (he's 95), but already a classic. Probably our most famous poet right know, but also an apt novelist (Antigone being his better known title)
Willem Elsschot -- Flemish writer, from Antwero where he lived his whole life. Wrote less than 1000 pages of prose, but is a huge name -- although I guess he is now little read. He run an advertising agency and his family didn't know he wrote fiction while in the office. I read Kaas last year, incredibly funny book. A few of his books are available in English.
Michel de Ghelderode -- Belgium's number one playwright.

Odd-balls:
Andr? Baillon -- wouldn't know how to describe his work. Tremendously funny portraits of low-life by a low-life. Very sad personal history. Cult author.
Andr? Blavier -- "correspondant ?tranger" of Oulipo. Pataphysicien extraordinaire. Better known for his efforts to make the names of Queneau or Ionesco more respected than for his own works. Wrote both in French and wallonian (not a dialect, by the way).
Raoul Vaneigem -- Belgian situationist.

Contemporary writers:
Guy Goffette -- widely considered our best poet at the moment.
Pierre Mertens -- better known for Une paix royale, for which he got sued by some members of the royal family. No Hugo Claus though.
Fran?ois Weyergans -- Goncourt 2005, he beat hot favourite Houellbecq.
Caroline Lamarche -- Great stylist in the Minuit school.
Thomas Gunzig -- Rising star of Belgian letters. Not bad, enjoyable but never convinced me. Used to work in the main bookshop of Brussels, where i go and buy my books.
Bernard Quiriny -- Upcoming short-story writers, already "approved" by Enrique Vila-Matas.
Vincent Engel -- loves to write romantic epics located in Italy either under Mussolini or during the 19th century in which there always seem to be a hot red-haired girl and some young and beautiful man modelled on the author. Clich?ed and pseudo-poetic writing. I'm only mentioning him because he used to be my lecturer. Avoid at all costs. (Gave me good marks, so no revenge here).

Eric, thanks again for opening this thread.

[Eric]

Of the French-speaking Belgians, Pierre Mertens is one author I'be been thinking of reading for a long time. There is that fat novel about the royal family that Fausto mentions, which I'm always thinking about buying in Dutch translation, but never get round to doing.

I've always found the book catalogue published by Espace Nord / Editions Labor quite fascinating. Must tackle some of the authors there some day. Marie Gevers will be first. I bought a couple of books by her once.

Flemish authors I'd like to translate include Walter van den Broeck, Kristien Hemmerechts, Ivo Michiels and one or two others.

[Eric]

This thread has been dead since July 2008. Please look at the Franz Hellens thread. Belgian literature is fascinating and broad in scope (avant garde, workers & coal mines, aristocrats & manor houses, Dutch-speakers, French-speakers, crime novels, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.)

Do try to discover Belgian literature. It's right next door to the UK!

[This is a plug]

[Eric]

This thread is still dead. (That rhymes.) Verhaeghen is not the only Belgian author. Ghent and one or two other Belgian cities are nearer to London than Edinburgh is. Yet Flemish and Walloon literature are still regarded as obscure and funnily foreign in most British circles I know of. It says it all that when a Fleming translates his own book (as if there aren't enough translators from Dutch!) this appears to be the only way of getting it noticed in Britain and the USA.

As I'm involved with mostly Nordic and Baltic literature, I don't have much time for Belgian literature. And yet this thread appears to be mostly me talking to myself about that very literature.

[hdw]

[QUOTE=Eric;205]

While Brits know "everything" about Irvine Welsh, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Muriel Spark, Neil M. Gunn, Alasdair Gray, Liz Heron, Ian Rankin, and a host of other names from Scotland, they know virtually nothing about what the Flemings wrote in French, and write in Dutch.

WHO IS LIZ HERON? Harry (in Edinburgh, Scotland)

If you asked, say, 2,000 people on the streets of central London, only a dozen (apart from Belgian, French and Dutch tourists) would be able to name one Belgian author,

AND MOST OF THEM WOULD SAY 'HERCULE POIROT'

One final point about language usage. The culture, history and geography are Flemish or Wallonian, the language is Dutch or French. Except in one case: those writing in a very strong dialect of French, or language in its own right, depending on taste, do write in Wallonian. But most Flemish authors do not write in dialect, they write in standard Dutch, with some regional vocabulary input.

IN MY EFL-TEACHING DAYS I ONCE HAD AN ADULT BELGIAN STUDENT WHO TOLD ME THAT HE HAD TO SPEAK STANDARD DUTCH TO HIS GIRLFRIEND AS THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER'S FLEMISH DIALECT. IF THE SCOTTISH SITUATION IS COMPARABLE, I WOULD GUESS THAT EMBARRASSMENT AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS RATHER THAN MUTUAL INCOMPREHENSIBILITY WAS THE REAL REASON. I WAS BROUGHT UP SPEAKING A BROAD LOCAL VARIETY OF SCOTS BUT I WOULD ONLY EVER USE IT THESE DAYS IF SPEAKING TO SOMEBODY OF THE OLDEST GENERATION BACK HOME IN EAST FIFE. SPEAKING TO OTHER SCOTS, EVEN FROM A RURAL WORKING-CLASS BACKGROUND, I WOULD REVERT TO SCOTS-ACCENTED ENGLISH - THE DEFAULT SPEECH FORM HERE WITH PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW.

Harry

[Eric]

While the differences between the dialects of Zeeland, Limburg, Flanders proper, Brabant, etc., may mean little to us outsiders, I have seen subtitles used fairly often on Flemish TV when people speaking a particularly broad dialect are interviewed. This no doubt parallels the Scottish situation. This even occurs on the programme Vlaanderen Vakantieland, a holiday programme where there is always one item from Flanders, others from abroad.

I think that it goes beyond embarrassment self-consciousness, as some Flemish dialects are incredibly different to the norm. It would be like people speaking Doric, Geordie, Broad Yorkshire and some West Country dialect all trying to discuss in the same conversation.

I remember overhearing a conversation a couple of decades ago in a Stockholm museum or art gallery. I could hear the occasional word of what sounded like Dutch, but could make neither head nor tail of the conversation as a whole. So I went up and asked the people what they were speaking. They came from Bruges. Even then, I had a pretty good passive knowledge of standard spoken Dutch, but this was very different.

[peter_d]

The thread is still dead (and that still rhymes ) But unfortunately. Interesting to read your contributions to this part, Eric. Do you really think that there is lack of good translators from the Dutch language to English? That would explain indeed why so many interesting Belgian authors are hardly read outside of Belgium and the Netherlands.

I had a period that I almost exclusive read Flemish authors. I was impressed by the work of Hubert Lampo (e.g. The coming of Joachim Stiller), although he seemed to have lost popularity in both Belgium and NL. Elsschot has always been one of my favorites. Besides his wonderful prose (Kaas is among the best Dutch language novels) he also written some interesting poetry.

A more contemporary writer I find interesting is Peter Verhelst (1962) whose novel Tongkat (2000), has been translated in English by Sherry Marx as 'Tonguecat'. In took two prestigeous Dutch/Belgian literary prizes. It?s a very surrealistic book that goes a bit towards phantasy sci-fi, although it cannot be really categorized as that. In the Flemish/Dutch version it has the interesting subtitle: a brothel of stories. A few translated opening lines to get a feeling:

"That year the cold was a snake that struck your heels, your dangling hands. Slithering up your spine, around your neck, between your lips.
Your brain turned to gelatin in the bone-white dish of your skull. The cold clamped to your teeth like glittering diamonds. Your whole body took on the color of hardened candle wax.
That year the cold hit our country a thousand kilometers northward in one blow. Words stuck to our tongues like crystals.
It was the year the watches stopped. Silenced.
The Year was Zero."

Another writer that interests me is Dimitri Verhulst, although I must admit that I didn't read anything by him yet. His latest novel was awarded the Dutch Libris prize 2009 (one of the big three prizes) and tells the history of human being in not even 200 pages. It will be one of my next reads.

[Eric]

I had some recent trouble with my computer, hence the silence on my part.

There is no shortage of decent literary translators from Dutch into English. Off the top of my head, I can name Ina Ri[l]ke, Sam Garrett, Susan Massotty, David Colmer, Paul Vincent. And I am no doubt doing half a dozen British and American translators an injustice by forgetting their names and achievements.

My personal, and highly prejudiced, opinion is that neither Dutch publishers, nor the promotional organisations, appear to take enough notice of older, more classical writers, instead concentrating on young, photogenic and so on authors, especially if they write about 'wheelrunning' and other arcane sports. Promoting Dutch literature seems to have become too much of a sales venture.

Indeed, why is so little Lampo, Vestdijk, Haasse, Schendel, van Eeden, van den Broeck, Michiels, Hemmerechts, just to name young and old, classic and contemporary, Dutch and Flemish, quite at random, available in English? Who decides which Dutch and Flemish authors should appear in English, and by what criteria?

I shall look out books by Verhelst and Verhulst next time I'm in Amsterdam. But weird fantasy, horror, magical realist, and other similar types of writing are certainly well represented in older Flemish literature such as Raes, Timmermans, Daisne, Ruyslinck, Boon, and lots of others.

There is so much catching up I have to do regarding older authors, that I haven't really looked at most younger Dutch and Flemish authors.

[chika]

[QUOTE=Eric;35149]I had some recent trouble with my computer, hence the silence on my part.

There is no shortage of decent literary translators from Dutch into English. Off the top of my head, I can name Ina Ri[l]ke, Sam Garrett, Susan Massotty, David Colmer, Paul Vincent. And I am no doubt doing half a dozen British and American translators an injustice by forgetting their names and achievements.

My personal, and highly prejudiced, opinion is that neither Dutch publishers, nor the promotional organisations, appear to take enough notice of older, more classical writers, instead concentrating on young, photogenic and so on authors, especially if they write about 'wheelrunning' and other arcane sports. Promoting Dutch literature seems to have become too much of a sales venture.

Indeed, why is so little Lampo, Vestdijk, Haasse, Schendel, van Eeden, van den Broeck, Michiels, Hemmerechts, just to name young and old, classic and contemporary, Dutch and Flemish, quite at random, available in English? Who decides which Dutch and Flemish authors should appear in English, and by what criteria?

QUOTE]

I think- from the little I know- one of the criteria for deciding who gets published in English is size. In the UK and the US, it is near impossible for agents or publishers to accept novels of under 60 000 words, whereas in belgium, and indeed in Holland, some of our best writers have consistently published small volumes.
Another reason where there is precious little translation from Dutch to English is the difference in writing culture. from experience I can confirm that while it is possible to publish a novel which tells a straightforward story,( does not delve into the pyschologies of the characters etcetc, in essence what in the UK and US many agents and publishers would refer to as "shallow") in Belgium, it is often not so in the UK and US.

One of my favourite works ( and which has been translated into English too) is Erwin Mortier's Marcel. It retains this title in English. The poetry of his language is heartbreaking in its beauty.
Verheygen's Omega Minor ( which he translated himself) won the foreign fiction prize last year.
Verhulst is very successful but not a personal favourite of mine. I get the feeling that he is trying hard to be his generation's Brusselmans.

[chika]

And I am so sorry for totally murdering paul Verhaeghen's name in my previous post

[peter_d]

Erwin Mortier, he's a writer that I have tried so hard to appreciate. Really. But I couldn't. I don't know why. I feel he has something great that I don't have access to, that I didn't discover yet. Godenslaap his latest novel I read twice, out of frustration that I didn't appreciate it the first time. I know he has something with language that is geneous, but for me that's all. Even the second time I couldn't appreciate it. But I'll keep it on my shelf. Who knows, maybe I'm too far behind. I'll try again in a couple of years...

Brusselmans in someway I never took serious. I only read one of his novels, which really make me laugh. Laugh in the sense that he DOES have a sense of humour. But I?m a reader with too many prejudices: he writes sooo much (over 50 novels already?), he was a profesional footballplayer (although this doesn't exclude other skills, look at Siemen Agdestein who was a Norwegian international in two disciplines, football and chess, and he also brought top chess player Magnus Carlsen to the top of the world) and he is a tv personality in Belgium. He is very humourous on tv (if you understand Dutch try this link YouTube - Herman Brusselmans - Toos - Wereld draait door). Can he still be a great literary writer? I don't know...

[Eric]

Chika: as long as you don't murder Verhaeghen himself. He might not like that.

When writing a quote, you should first make a block of the words you want to quote after you've pasted them into where you're writing. Then you should press the little light yellow icon (resembling a quote) above the text window. This will mean that you don't forget to close the bracket after the word QUOTE. The result is like this:

And I am so sorry for totally murdering paul Verhaeghen's name in my previous post

It rather intrigued me that a Fleming living in the USA chose to translate his own book. He must have a very good command of English. The book is rather too long for my taste (almost 700 pages), so I think I'll give it a miss.

Chika: I've never read anything by either Mortier or Brusselmans. What are the main characteristics of their work, making them worth reading? Peter D doesn't seem over the moon about Mortier. Brusselmans seems to muck around all the time, and manages to keep in the limelight. That's not really for me. His book spoof on Flemish literary greats is only funny if you are acquainted with what these authors wrote in real life.

[chika]

Tnx Eric.
Mortier's use of language is fantastic. I love it! I'm not a Brusselman's fan. You should maybe try the two Tom's : Naegels and Lanoye who are more adventurous in their choice of subject matter. Or the lesser known- but no less good author- Leo Pleysier
PV has been living and teaching in the US for a while, so yes, his English is excellent.

[chika]

Chika: as long as you don't murder Verhaeghen himself. He might not like that.

When writing a quote, you should first make a block of the words you want to quote after you've pasted them into where you're writing. Then you should press the little light yellow icon (resembling a quote) above the text window. This will mean that you don't forget to close the bracket after the word QUOTE. The result is like this:



It rather intrigued me that Fleming living in the USA chose to translate his own book. He must have a very good command of English. The book is rather too long for my taste (almost 700 pages), so I think I'll give it a miss.

Chika: I've never read anything by either Mortier or Brusselmans. What are the main characteristics of their work, making them worth reading? Peter D doesn't seem over the moon about Mortier. Brusselmans seems to muck around all the time, and manages to keep in the limelight. That's not really for me. His book spoof on Flemish literary greats is only funny if you are acquainted with what these authors wrote in real life.

When writing a quote, you should first make a block of the words you want to quote after you've pasted them into where you're writing. Then you should press the little light yellow icon (resembling a quote) above the text window. This will mean that you don't forget to close the bracket after the word QUOTE. The result is like this:Just trying this out, Eric. Tnx again