Marnix Gijsen 20 October 1899 - 29 September 1984) was a Flemish

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 writer. His real name was Joannes Alphonsius Albertus Goris, his pseudonym relates to Marnix van Sint Aldegonde and the surname of his mother (Gijsen).

Early years

Gijsen was born in 1899 in Antwerp, Belgium

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...

. In his youth he received a strictly Roman Catholic education, at the Jesuit college of Saint Ignacio

Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...

 in Antwerp, but in 1917 he was punished heavily (consilium abeundi, E: 'advice to leave') for his militant Flemish activism

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. In 1925 he went to the Catholic University of Leuven

Catholic University of Leuven

The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...

, where he obtained a PhD in history and moral sciences with a dissertation on Études sur les colonies marchandes méridionales (portugaises, espagnoles, italiennes) à Anvers de 1488 à 1567. He went on to study at the University of Freiburg

University of Freiburg

The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 (Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

) and London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 (London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

).

Career

From 1928 until 1933, he was a civil servant at the municipal authorities of Antwerp, including principal private secretary of the mayor of Antwerp (1928–1932). Subsequently he worked at the civil service in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 from 1932 to 1939, where he was Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Economics from 1932 until 1937, and from 1939 up to 1941 he was Commissioner-General for tourism.

From 1942 until 1964, he lived in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 (United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) as Belgian commissioner for information and in addition he was plenipotentiary minister. On the Belgian public radio, as The voice from America, he had a weekly radio spot on Saturday night.

Literary career

Marnix Gijsen started his literary career as a poet within the expressionist group Ruimte (E: Space) their illustrated magazine. His most important poem was Lof-litanie van de Heilige Franciscus van Assisië (E: Praise of Saint Francis) (1920). In his early period he came into contact with the Flemish

Flemish people

The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

 poets Paul van Ostaijen

Paul van Ostaijen

Paul van Ostaijen was a Flemish poet and writer.Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp. His nickname was Mister 1830, because of his habit of walking along the streets of Antwerp clothed as a dandy from that year....

, Karel van den Oever, and Victor J. Brunclair. After a study trip to the United States, he wrote the story Ontdek Amerika (E: Discover America) (1927). He wrote essays on art, such as on Karel van Mander (1922), Jozef Cantré, (1933), and Hans Memlinc (1939), and he wrote daily literary criticisms. He was a close friend of the Belgian writer Suzanne Lilar

Suzanne Lilar

Suzanne, Baroness Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French...

, and he wrote the afterword in the 1976 Dutch translation of Lilar's "Le Couple" (1963).

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he broke with his Roman catholic faith, and adopted moral values and an attitude of life based on stoicism

Stoicism

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...

. This became apparent in his first novel Het boek van Joachim van Babylon (E: The book of Joachim van Babylon), which was first published in 1947. From then on, he published a series of novels, such as Goed en kwaad (E: Good and bad) (1951), Klaaglied om Agnes (E: Mourning for Agnes) (1951), De diaspora (1961), Zelfportret, gevleid natuurlijk (E: Self-portrait, flattered of course) (1965). In 1968, he wrote theatre play, Helena op Itahaka. On his relation to Catholicism

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, he wrote De afvallige (E: The renegade) and Biecht van een heiden (E: Confession of a heathen), which were both published in 1971.

His literary work is a testimony of a moralist, who, in spite of everything, goes his own way and holds high the moral values of good and courage against evil. His literary work was awarded the Belgian national prize for literature in 1959, and 1969 and the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren

Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren

The Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren is awarded every three years to an author from the Netherlands, Belgium or, since 2005, Suriname writing in Dutch...

 in 1974. In 1975, he was knighted and became a Baron.

Gijsen died in Lubbeek

Lubbeek

Lubbeek is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Binkom, Linden, Lubbeek proper and Pellenberg. On January 1, 2006 Lubbeek had a total population of 13,660. The total area is 46.13 km² which gives a population density of 296...

, Belgium in 1984.

Source

• G.J. van Bork en P.J. Verkruijsse, De Nederlandse en Vlaamse auteurs (1985)
• Marnix Gijsen
• Marnix Gijsen