TURF). Through many vicissitudes the national movement strug gled on, from the recognition by the Academy of Brussels (1772), to the work of Willems (1818 and 1836) and David, founder of the review De Middalaer. Several writers set forth their seasoned opinions on the value of Flemish as a natural literary vehicle, dwelling particularly on its historical development. Texts of earlier times were reprinted and edited with care and literary men set on foot an active propaganda in favour of a national tongue.
At some period near the closing years of the 16th century, the literature of Flanders began to decline, and this was still more noticeable during the 18th century. Flemish sank to the level of a patois. It was not until between 1815 and 183o, when the Belgian provinces were once more united to the kingdom of the Netherlands, that slight signs of a renaissance appeared. It might have been thought that the revolution of 183o and the regime which was set up after it would have destroyed the movement in its early stages, but the contrary was the case. The Government, aiming at centralization, declared French the only official lan guage of the country and adopted a policy hostile to the use of Flemish or Dutch (for in their literary form the two languages are one and the same). Its policy, however, created a reaction, and this gave rise to the "Flemish movement," which aimed at restoring the language of the people to honour and making it the foundation of a truly national culture.
The movement drew its chief inspiration from J. F. Willems who, in collaboration with certain scholars of his acquaintance, founded a magazine by means of which he drew the attention of the public to the great classics of Flemish literature, Reinaert de Vos, the mediaeval songs, etc. The enthusiasm for the Flemish language which was thus aroused led more imagina tive minds to wish to create literary works in Flemish.
The first name which must be mentioned in this connection is that of Hendrik Conscience (1812-83) (q.v.). This author was the real father of the new Flemish literature, to which he gave a great impetus by the publication of one of his earlier novels, The Lion of Flanders (1838), a heroic and romantic story of the struggle of the Flemish communes against the French monarchy at the beginning of the 14th century. Side by side with him there sprang up a whole school of poets whose work still shows traces of the rhetorical manner of the Dutch poets of the preceding period. They include Karel Ledeganck (1805-47), who raised Flemish poetry to greater dignity by improving and refining its form. In his poem The Three Sister Cities (Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp) he helped to reawaken the Flemish spirit by reminding his compatriots of the greatness of their past and showing that their national characteristics were worthy of respect. He ex pressed the aspirations of his nation in a sufficiently definite form to impress them on the heart of the people. Another poet of this period was Prudens van Duyse (1804-59), whose numer ous works show more fertility of imagination and stronger feeling than Ledeganck's, but less artistic feeling and uniformity of level. Theodoor van Ryswyck (1811-49) wrote in a more popular vein.
The period 1850-75 is less deeply imbued with romanticism. Literature aimed more at realism and stylistic merit. Conscience continued to be the most popular novelist ; it has been said of him with justice that "he taught his nation to read." His fer tility was inexhaustible, and he supplied the masses of the popu lation with the intellectual and moral nourishment which they required, in the form of novels which are somewhat too conven tional in their psychology, but give a pleasing account of the simple ways of life in small towns and villages. More vigorous realism is to be found in the works of Domien Sleeckx (1818 1901) , whose view of life is less indulgent. Among the poets, special attention was devoted to artistic form by Dautzenberg (1808-69), a man belonging to the previous generation, whose work is nevertheless best mentioned here. Jan van Beers (1821 88) wrote tales in verse describing the life of the poor. He com bines a pure style with realism and strong feeling.
There was, however, at this time another poet who united all the tendencies which have been mentioned—love of nature, sincere feeling and a characteristic style—but raised them to the plane of pure poetry. This was Guido Gezelle (183o-99), a priest of West Flanders. He treated the language in an entirely new way, incorporated elements from his own dialect, and transformed it into a far more supple and expressive medium than it had been before. His ardent religious feeling and his love for every aspect of his native land are expressed in his work with such wealth and originality of imagery and such subtlety of rhythm that Guido Gezelle is still regarded as the greatest and most original poet of Flemish literature. His first verses were published in 1858, but a crisis in his spiritual development then kept him silent for 20 years. For long his work was recognized only by a small circle, and he did not attain fame until the publication of his last volumes in the 'nineties.
During the period 1875-90 another native of West Flanders, Albrecht Rodenbach (1856-8o), a poet of real talent, published poems and a verse drama, Gudrun, which showed the greatest promise. In his work the reawakening of Flemish national con sciousness is expressed with a passion which aroused the en thusiasm of the younger generation. Unfortunately he died at the age of 24. The leadership of the poetic movement then passed to Pol de Mont (1857-1931), whose work, though more brilliant than profound, was lively and spontaneous and helped to enrich Flemish literature with new subjects. In prose, the novels and short stories of Virginie Loveling (1836-1919) and Reimond Stns (1850-19o5) prepared the way for realism emancipated from all literary conventions.
The tendencies outlined above inaugurated a period of general literary revival, from which critics are agreed in dating the modern Flemish literary movement. The principal organ of the new movement was the review Van Nu en Straks (To-day and To-morrow), which was founded in 1893. It played the same part in the development of Flemish literature as La Jeune Belgique had played ten years earlier in the French literary movement of Belgium. Its contributors included men of the older generation such as Cyriel Buysse (1859-1932), Prosper van Langendonck (1862-192o) and Alfred Hegenscheidt (b. 1866), and also a group of younger writers born in the '7os, who opened up new fields, completed the process of artistic emancipation and struck out boldly in fresh directions. Then opened a period of abun dant literary production which continues at the present day. It coincided with the return of Guido Gezelle to literature. The poems which he published during the last years of his life won him recognition as the greatest master of the day, who united the most consummate artistry with freshness and spontaneity.
The poetry of Prosper van Langendonck is imbued with pro found human feeling. Alfred Hegenscheidt is the author of Starkadd (1899), the finest poetic drama of Flemish literature. Of modern poets, the most distinguished is undoubtedly Karel van den Woestijne (1878-1929), who, from his first volume in 1903 on, preserved a consistently high level of production. It is safe to say that his complex and sibylline personality has struck a new note in European literature. Jan van Nylen (b. 1879) and Firmin van Hecke (b. 1884) by their rare purity of style, are closer to him than any other contemporary poets.
The masters of narrative prose, Cyriel Buysse and Stn Streuvels (b. 1871), are dealt with in separate articles; the former, as an objective realist, has delineated most truthfully Flemish popular life; the latter, by his poetical treatment, ideal izes it. August Vermeylen (b. 1872) has written essays and a philosophical novel, The Wandering Jew (1906), that was trans lated into French, German and Czech. Maurits Sabbe (b. with his warm sensitive semi-tones, best reproduces the atmos phere of Bruges. Lode Baekelmans (b. 1879), whose humour is broader, brings to life the dock quarter and the picturesque char acters of the Antwerp streets. The tales of Fernand Toussaint (b. 1875) are distinguished by a delicate nuance of technique. The novels of Herman Teirlinck (b. 1879) depart from strict realism ; they are imbued with an individual fantasy, which delights in ex quisite arabesques. In Van de Waestyne, who has also written several volumes of prose on symbolic themes, the creative imagi nation reigns alone, remote from reality.
New tendencies, however, are visible in the younger writers of the post-war era. Wies Moens (b. 1898) and Marnix Ghysen (b. 1899) completely break with all tradition and proclaim abso lute liberty of rhythm and image; while Paul van Ostayen (1896-1928), discarding all logical phrases and even all idea of "subject," endeavoured to express himself by sound values alone.
Ernest Claes (b. 1885) may be mentioned among the vivid nar rators of the present, and Maurice Roelants (b. 1895) among the most ingenuous psychological analysts. But the novelist Felix Timmermans (b. 1886) achieved the greatest popularity, and at the same time won the appreciation of literary critics. His bright, spontaneous style, full of unexpected images which surprise by their very aptness, is combined with delicacy of perception and the true tang of nature. His Pallieter (1916) expresses an exuber ant jote de vivre, the equal of which would be hard to find. His other works also are essentially Flemish in their mixture of frank sensuality and mystical tenderness.
In the theatre, Herman Teirlinck made, in his later years, the most serious attempt toward a dramatic renaissance : drawing his inspiration simultaneously from the mediaeval moralities and the cinema, he released the drama from the confines of the unities and of immediate reality. His characters are types and mainly allegorical, and thus present all the spiritual elements of action moving in visible form.
Belgian writers were commonly charged with provincialism, but the prejudice against them has been destroyed by the brilliant writers of more recent years. It was also asserted that Belgian French literature lacked a national basis, and was merely a reflec tion of Parisian models. The most important section of it, how ever, has a distinctive quality of its own. Many of its most distin guished exponents are Flemings by birth, and their writings reflect the characteristic Flemish scenery; they have the sensuousness, the colour and the realism of Flemish art; and on the other hand the tendency to mysticism, to abstraction, is far removed from the lucidity and definiteness associated with French literature properly so-called.
The events of 1830-31 gave a great stimulus to Belgian letters, but the country possessed writers of considerable merit before that date. For four years before the revolution Andre van Hasselt (q.v.) had been publishing his verses in the Sentinelle des Pays Bas, and from 1829 onwards he was an ardent romanticist. A burst of literary and artistic activity followed the revolution ; and van Hasselt's house became a centre of poets, artists and musicians of the romantic school. The best work of the Belgian romanticists is in the rich and picturesque prose of the i6th century romance of Charles de Coster (see DE COSTER), and in the melancholy and semi-philosophical writings of the moralist Octave Pirmez. Charles Potvin (1818-1902 ), a poet and a dramatist, is best known by a patriotic Histoire des lettres en Belgique, forming vol. iv. of the Belgian compilation, Cinquante ans de liberty (1882), and by his essays in literary history. Eugene van Bemmel (18 24-80) established an excellent historical tradition in his Histoire de la Belgique (188o), reproducing textually the original authorities, and also edited a Belgian encyclopaedia (1873-7 5), the Patria Belgica. Baron E. C. de Gerlache (1785-1871) wrote the history of the Netherlands from the ultramontane standpoint.
The whole of this literature derived more or less from foreign sources, and, with the exception of Charles de Coster and Octave Pirmez, produced no striking figures. De Coster died in 1879, and Pirmez in 1883, and the new movement in Belgian literature dates from the banquet given in the latter year to Camille Lemon nier (q.v.), whose powerful personality did much to turn "Young Belgium" into a national channel. Lemonnier himself cannot be exclusively claimed by any of the conflicting schools of young writers. He was by turns naturalist, lyrist and symbolist ; and it has been claimed that the germs of all the later developments in Belgian letters may be traced in his work. The quinquennial prize of literature had been refused to his Un male, and the younger generation of artists and men of letters gave him a banquet which was recognized as a protest against the official literature, represented by Louis Hymans (1829-84), Gustave Frederix (1834-1894), the literary critic of L'Independance beige, and others. The centres around which the young writers were grouped were two reviews, L'Art moderne and La leune Belgique. L'Art moderne was founded in 1882 by Edmond Picard, who had as his chief supporters Victor Arnould and Octave Maus. The first editor of La Jeune Belgique was M. Warlomont (1860 89), known under the pen-name of "Max Waller." This review, which owed much of its success to Waller's energy, defended the intense preoccupation of the new writers with questions of style, and became the depository of the Parnassian tradition in Belgium. It had among its early contributors Georges Eekhoud, Albert Giraud, Iwan Gilkin and Georges Rodenbach. Edmond Picard (1836-1924) was one of the foremost in the battle. He was well known as an advocate in Brussels, and made a considerable contribution to jurisprudence as the chief writer of the Pandectes beiges (1886-90). His Pro arte (1886) was a kind of literary code for the young Belgian writers.
Georges Eekhoud (1854-192 7) was in some ways the most passionately Flemish of the whole group. He described the life of the peasants of his native Flanders with a bold realism, making himself the apologist of the vagabond and the outcast in a series of tragic stories: Kees Doorik (1883) , Kermesses 0883), Nou velles Kermesses (1887), Le Cycle patibulaire 0892), Mes Communions (1895), Escal Vigor (1899) and La Faneuse d'amour (1900), etc. Nouvelle Carthage (1888) deals with modern Antwerp. In 1892 he produced a striking book on English liter ature entitled Au siecle de Shakespeare, and has written French versions of Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster (1895) and of Marlowe's Edward II. (1896).
The earlier work of "Young Belgium" in poetry was experi mental in character and provoked much hostile criticism. The young writers of 187o to 188o had not long to wait, however, for recognition both at home and in Paris, where many of them found hospitality in the pages of the Mercure de France from 1890 onwards. They divided their allegiance between the leaders of the French Parnassus and the Symbolists.
The most powerful of the Belgian poets, Emile Verhaeren (q.v.), was the most daring in his technical methods of express ing bizarre sensation, and has been called the "poet of paroxysm." His reputation extends far beyond the limits of his own country.
Many of the Belgian poets adhere to the classical form. Albert Giraud (b. Louvain, 186o, d. 1929) was faithful to the Parnassian tradition in his Pierrot lunaire (1884), Pierrot narcisse (189i ) and Hors du siecle (1886). In the earlier works of Iwan Gilkin (1858-1924) the influence of Charles Baudelaire is predominant. He wrote Damnation de l'artiste (1890), Tenebres 0892), Stances dorees (1893) , La N1uit (1897) and Promethee (1899) . The poems of Valere Gille (born at Brussels in 1867), whose Cithare was crowned by the French Academy in 1898, belong to the same group. Emile van Arenberghe (born in Louvain in i 854) is the author of some exquisite sonnets. Fernand Severin (1867— 1931), in his Poemes ingenus (i9oo), aimed at simplicity of form and with Severin was closely associated Georges Marlow (1872 ), author of L'Ame en exil (1895).
Georges Rodenbach (1855-98), author of Bruges la Morte (1892), spent most of his life in Paris and was an intimate of Edmond de Goncourt. The best part of his production is the outcome of a passionate idealism of the quiet Flemish towns in which he had passed his childhood and early youth.
The most famous of all modern Belgian writers, Maurice Maeterlinck (q.v.) made his debut in a Parisian journal, the Pleiade, in 1886. He succeeded more nearly than any of his predecessors in expressing or suggesting in his poems, and more particularly in his early plays, ideas and emotions which might have been supposed to be capable of translation only in terms of music. Maeterlinck was a native of Ghent, and the first poems of two of his fellow-townsmen also appeared in the Pleiade. These were Gregoire le Roy (b. 1862), author of La Chanson d'un soir (1886) and Mon Coeur pleure d'autrefois (1889), and Charles van Lerberghe (1861-1907), author of a play, Les Flaireurs (189o), a collection of Poemes (1897) and La Chanson d'Eve, one of the finest of Belgian poems.
Max Elskamp (1862-1931) was the author of some volumes of religious poetry—Dominical (1892), Salutations, dont d'an geliques (1893), En symbole vers l'apostolat (1895)— for which he devised as background an imaginary city. Eugene Demolder (1862-1919) also created a mythical city as a setting for his prose contes in the Legende d'Yperdamme (1897).
Belgian literature, which was so flourishing at the beginning of the 2oth century, suffered some severe losses during the next two decades. Charles van Lerberghe, the greatest Belgian poet after Verhaeren, died prematurely in 1907. The powerful novelist, Camille Lemonnier, died in 1913 , his last works being a tragedy, Edenie (I and a symbolic story Au Coeur Frais de la Foret (1913). Emile Verhaeren died in 1916. Somewhat later Edmond Picard, a well-known lawyer and critic, who exerted a considerable influence on the younger generation, Iwan Gilkin, one of the founders of La Jeune Belgique, and Georges Eekhoud were lost to Belgian letters. To these names should be added those of several writers of great talent and promise who were killed fight ing for their country. Some of their writings have been collected in Les Ecrivains belges morts a la guerre, an anthology published in 1923.
The most interesting productions of War literature are, how ever, those which were written during the four years of German occupation (1914-18) or immediately after the deliverance of the country. A. Giraud and Max Elskamp published two notable books, Le Laurier (1919) and Sous les tentes de l'exil (1923), and the historian, H. Pirenne, Souvenirs de captivite en Allemagne. Among other prose works were the anonymous Lettres d'un provincial ou les propos du conseiller Eudoxe, a satire on German administration after the style of Pascal, L'oeil sur les Ostrogoths by E. Verlant, the war memories of M. Lekeux, a Franciscan monk who fought as an officer of artillery, Mes cloitres sous la tempete, and a collection of War impressions by two young writers, Lucien Christophe, Aux lueurs du brasier, and R. Vivier, La plaine etrange.
While, in former days, literature was practically ignored by the State, several institutions were founded in order to stimulate its activity. In 1920, a Belgian academy of French language was established by royal decree which published critical studies on Belgian literature and awarded prizes for essays on set questions or for any book of verse or prose worthy of encouragement.
Certain endowments were entrusted to it, such as that of the French Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs of a biennial prize for dramatic literature. The academy passed resolutions which were acted upon by the Government and undertook an enquiry into the situation of the French language throughout the world.
Most of the 14 original members of the academy formerly belonged to the group of La Jeune Belgique, and at the end of this period were already looked upon as writers of the older generation. Among them were : G. Eekhoud, a story writer of Flemish peasant life, and the author of several translations and criticisms on the Elizabethan drama whose work Perkin Warbeck appeared in 1914 ; the Parnassian poet, Albert Giraud, who, besides Le Laurier mentioned above, published Eros et Psyche in 192o and Le concert dans un musee; F. Severin, who was particularly successful in his descriptions of Walloon countryside (La source au fond des bois) ; the poet essayist A. Mockel (La flamme immortelle, 1924), and two accomplished novelists and story writers of Walloon extraction: H. Krains (Mes amis, 1921) and L. Delattre (Du cote de l'ombre, 1924).
The influence of art, so powerful on Belgian literature, re asserted itself in later years owing to the constant interest shown by the public in modern and ancient painting. Among the poets and playwrights who devoted part of their time to art criticism were: G. Le Roy in James Ensor (1922) ; A. Goffin in L'Art religieux en Belgique (1924) ; and G. Vanzype in L'Art Beige du zgeme siecle (1923), Henri de Braekeleer and Rubens.
It has often been noticed that the delight they take in descrip tion had somewhat hampered the talent of Belgian novelists. This may account for the fact that, in the writers of this period, as in the former generation, poems and dramatic works were generally above the level reached by novels, though writers of Walloon extraction were less inclined than their Flemish colleagues to mis take their pen for the brush. Among the most distinguished works of the latter since the War may be mentioned H. Stiernet's Le roman d'un tonnelier, H. Davignon's series of novels dealing with Anglo-Belgian relationship, L. Pierard's Les trois borains, G. Garnir's La Chanson de la riviere, E. Glesener's Les dytiques and R. Dupierreux's La certitude amoureuse; among the former, H. van Offel (Les deux ingenus), F. Hellens (En ecoutant le bruit de mes talons), and A. t'Serstevens (Le vagabond sentimental) may be mentioned as the most original writers.
Poetry and the Drama.—It is almost impossible to classify the various tendencies which inspired the work of the modern poets. On the one hand there is a remarkable group of religious poets such as V. Kinon (L'dme des saisons), P. Nothomb (Portes du ciel), Th. Braun (Le beau temps), P. Fierens and G. Rae maekers who illustrate the mystical side of the Belgian tempera ment; on the other, the group of "La Renaissance d'Occident," headed by M. Gauchez (Hymne d la vie) who exalt the joy of life, following the realistic tendencies of Verhaeren. A certain number of poets, like Marie Gevers (Missembourg-Antoinette) and E. Cammaerts, Poemes intimes (1922), insist on the intimacy of home life; others, like E. Marcuse and L. Kochnitzky (Elegies bruxelloises), follow impressionist and humoristic tendencies. R. Verboom, M. Thiry and N. Ruet may be mentioned among the most promising poets of the younger generation.
In dramatic literature the loss of Verhaeren must again be deplored; his last tragedy, Helene de Sparte, was given in Paris in 1912. Maurice Maeterlinck has given: The Burgomaster of Stilemonde (1918), produced in England by Sir J. Martin Harvey; The Betrothal (1918), a sequel to The Blue Bird (191o), played in London in 1921 ; and two plays in modern setting: The Cloud that Lifted and The Power of the Dead (1923) . Maeterlinck's amazing success in Paris, 3o years ago, was almost repeated, in 1920, by a young Belgian playwright, F. Crommelynck, whose semi-grotesque, semi-tragic play, Le cocu magni fique (1921), created a sensation at the Theatre de l'Oeuvre. This author, who appears to be strongly influenced by the biting humour of Pieter Breughel, published two other plays : Les amants puerils and Tripes d'or. G. Vanzype, a writer of problem plays who remained steadfastly faithful to his high standard, added three more, Les semailles, Les visages, Les autres, to his already lengthy list of works. The dramatic power of Belgian writers can also be seen in P. Spaak's Malgre ceux qui tombent and G. Rency's La derniere victoire, while such works as H. Soumagne's L'autre messie (1924) and P. Demasy's La tragedie de Faust and Jesus de Nazareth (1924) showed that this power was by no means exhausted among the younger generation. There are few essayists in Belgium, but certain criticisms such as those of J. Destree, L. Dumont-Wilden, G. Charlier, F. Ansel and C. Bernard are of real and permanent interest.