Belgian literature
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
is a multilingual country,French, Dutch and German are legally the three official languages in Belgium see: EU-Belgium http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/belgium/index_fr.htm Belgian literature is divided into two main linguistic branches following the two most prominently spoken languages in the country - Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. And therefore usually - and inappropriately - discussed under the literature of these countries: France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
is the third language in Belgium and is spoken by a small community of about 70,000 German-speakers of the German-speaking Community of Belgium
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...
bordering on Germany.
Some literature also exists in the regional language
Regional language
A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area....
s of Belgium, with authors in the Walloon language
Walloon language
Walloon is a Romance language which was spoken as a primary language in large portions of the Walloon Region of Belgium and some villages of Northern France until the middle of the 20th century. It belongs to the langue d'oïl language family, whose most prominent member is the French language...
being particularly of note (see: Manifesto for Walloon culture
Manifesto for Walloon culture
The Manifesto for Walloon Culture , was published in Liège on 15 September 1983 and signed ‘by seventy-five key figures in artistic, journalistic and university circles’ of Wallonia....
, although this document does not mainly concern itself with the Walloon language).
Belgian literature in Dutch
see :- Hugo ClausHugo ClausHugo Maurice Julien Claus was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, the novel, and poetry; he also left a legacy as a painter and film director...
- Louis Paul BoonLouis Paul BoonLouis Paul Boon was a Flemish journalist and novelist who is considered one of the major 20th century writers in the Dutch language...
- Hendrik ConscienceHendrik ConscienceHenri "Hendrik" Conscience was a Belgian writer. He was a pioneer in writing in Dutch after the secession from the Netherlands in 1830 left Belgium a mostly French speaking country....
- Eric de KuyperEric de KuyperEric de Kuyper is a Flemish-Belgian and Dutch writer, semiotician, art critic, and experimental film director. Fictionalized autobiographical novels, written in the 3rd-person, account for most of his creative work. His academic writing encompasses reviews, essays, articles, and books on...
- Guido GezelleGuido GezelleGuido Pieter Theodorus Josephus Gezelle was an influential Flemish language writer and poet and a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium.- Life :...
- Willem ElsschotWillem ElsschotWillem Elsschot , was a Flemish writer and poet . A few of his works have been translated into English.-Life:...
- Erwin MortierErwin MortierErwin Mortier is a Belgian author, originally writing in Dutch. He lived his youth in a village near Ghent, later moving to the city itself....
- Tom LanoyeTom LanoyeTom Lanoye [lan-WA] is a Belgian novelist and poet who works in Antwerp and Cape Town . He gained widespread popularity in the early 1980s as part of the new generation of young Flemish novelists that included Herman Brusselmans and Kristien Hemmerechts...
- Jef GeeraertsJef GeeraertsJef Geeraerts is a Flemish writer. He was a colonial administrator in Belgian Congo. On the independence of the Congo he sent his wife and children back to Belgium and in August 1960 he himself returned to Belgium. During the next six years he was paid by the government . After that time he needed...
- Marnix GijsenMarnix GijsenMarnix Gijsen 20 October 1899 - 29 September 1984) was a Flemish writer. His real name was Joannes Alphonsius Albertus Goris, his pseudonym relates to Marnix van Sint Aldegonde and the surname of his mother .-Early years:...
- Herman de ConinckHerman de ConinckHerman de Coninck was a Flemish poet, essayist, journalist and publisher.-Life:Herman de Coninck was born in Mechelen, Belgium, where his parents ran a Catholic bookshop. He attended the Sint-Rombouts College in Mechelen where he contributed to the school newspaper...
- Cyriel BuysseCyriel BuysseCyrillus Gustave Emile "Cyriel", Baron Buysse was a Flemish naturalist author and playwright. He also wrote under following pseudonyms: Louis Bonheyden, Prosper Van Hove and Robert Palmer.-Biography:...
- Dimitri VerhulstDimitri VerhulstDimitri Verhulst is a Belgian writer and poet. He currently lives and works in Huccorgne.-Biography:Dimitri Verhulst comes from a broken home and spent his childhood in foster homes and institutes. As a writer, he made his debut in 1999 with a collection of stories, De kamer hiernaast about his...
- Herman BrusselmansHerman BrusselmansHerman Frans Martha Brusselmans is a Flemish novelist, poet, playwright and columnist. He lives in Ghent.Herman Brusselmans studied Dutch and English at the University of Ghent. In his early twenties he was a successful football player. He played for Vigor Hamme and SK Lokeren. He now has his own...
- Dutch languageDutch languageDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
- Flemish LiteratureFlemish literatureFlemish literature is literature from Flanders, historically a region comprising parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Until the early 19th century, this literature was regarded as an integral part of Dutch literature...
, which is part of the Dutch LiteratureDutch literatureDutch literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers... - Flemish CommunityFlemish CommunityThe term Flemish Community has two distinct, though related, meanings:...
Lijst van Vlaamse schrijvers (list of Flemish authors) Het Letterenhuis - Museum of the Flemish literature
Belgian literature in French
see :- Nicolas AncionNicolas AncionNicolas Ancion is a Belgian writer born in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, in 1971. His parents were professional puppeteers.He writes fiction for adults, young adults and children and is the author of several theater plays and poetry collections...
- Charles De CosterCharles De CosterCharles-Theodore-Henri De Coster was a Belgian novelist whose efforts laid the basis for a native Belgian literature....
- Michel de GhelderodeMichel De GhelderodeMichel de Ghelderode was an avant-garde Belgian dramatist, writing in French.-Career:...
- André-Paul DuchâteauAndré-Paul DuchâteauAndré-Paul Duchâteau is a Belgian comics writer and mystery novelist. He worked with Tibet on Ric Hochet. He has also written under the pseudonym Michel Vasseur.-Awards:*1974: Grand Prix de Littérature Policière - French Prize...
- Maurice GrevisseMaurice GrevisseMaurice Grevisse was a Belgian grammarian.-Biography:Born in Rulles, a small village in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium, Grevisse at a young age broke with a family tradition of working as blacksmiths by deciding to become a school teacher. He attended the Normal School of Carlsbourg, where he...
- Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
- Alain Le BussyAlain Le BussyAlain Le Bussy was a prolific Belgian author of science fiction who won the Prix Rosny-Aîné in 1993 for his novel Deltas. He died on October 14, 2010, from complications following throat surgery....
- Suzanne LilarSuzanne LilarSuzanne, Baroness Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French...
- Maurice MaeterlinckMaurice MaeterlinckMaurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
- Pierre MertensPierre MertensPierre Mertens is a Belgian French-speaking writer and lawyer who specializes in international law, director of the Centre de sociologie de la littérature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and literary critic with the newspaper Le Soir.Influenced by Franz Kafka, Mertens started to publish...
- Amélie NothombAmélie NothombAmélie Nothomb is a Belgian writer who writes in French.- Biography :Amélie Nothomb was born in Kobe, Japan to Belgian diplomats. She lived there until she was five years old, and then subsequently lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, Coventry and Laos...
- Jean Ray aka John Flanders for his works in Dutch
- J.H. Rosny and J.-H. Rosny aînéJ.-H. Rosny aînéJ.-H. Rosny aîné was the pseudonym of Joseph Henri Honoré Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction. Born in Brussels in 1856, he wrote in the French language, together with his younger brother Séraphin Justin François Boex...
& J.-H. Rosny jeuneJ.-H. Rosny jeuneJ.-H. Rosny jeune was the pseudonym of Séraphin Justin François Boex , a French author of Belgian origin who, along with his better known older brother J.-H. Rosny aîné, is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction... - Stanislas-André SteemanStanislas-André SteemanStanislas-Andre Steeman is an author and Belgian illustrator of French expression.He wrote many mystery novels, some of those were adapted to the screen, such as The Murderer Lives at Number 21 or Mystère à Shanghai...
- Yves Varende
- Emile VerhaerenEmile VerhaerenEmile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism....
- Henri VernesHenri VernesCharles-Henri-Jean Dewisme , better known by his pen name Henri Vernes, is a well-known author of action and science-fiction novels, of which has he published over 200 titles...
- Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
- Francophone literatureFrancophone literatureFrancophone literature is literature written in the French language. Most often the term is misused to refer only to literature from francophone countries outside France, but this category includes French Literature, or Literature of France, that is literature written by French authors...
- Belgian FrenchBelgian FrenchBelgian French is the variety of French spoken mainly in the French Community of Belgium, alongside related minority regional languages such as Walloon, Picard, Champenois and Gaumais. The French spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, which were formerly Belgian...
- French Community of BelgiumFrench Community of BelgiumThe French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not...
Centre d'Histoire de la littérature belge en langue française - Université Libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
Belgian literature in Walloon
Literature in Walloon has been printed since the 16th century or at least since the beginning of the 17th century. Its golden age was in the 19th century: 'That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily,and the founding of many theaters and periodicals.' Yves Quairiaux counted 4800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period plays were almost the only popular show in Wallonia. But this theater remains popular in present-day Wallonia: Theatre is still flourishing with over 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year. Jacques Ancion wanted to develop a regular adult audience. This regional literature most commonly deals with local folklore and ancient traditions, the most prominent Walloon author being Arthur Masson.Further related entries
- See: Belgian comicsBelgian comicsBelgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history...
- See: French literatureFrench literatureFrench literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
- See: Dutch literatureDutch literatureDutch literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers...