B E L G I A N

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BELGIAN
L I T E R A T U R E
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Language Map of Belgium
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Walloons

• Walloons are a group of people living in
  Southern Belgium who traditionally spoke a
  dialect of French called Walloon, but who today
  for the most part speak standard French. The
  Walloons, numbering some 3.5 million, reside
  mostly in the provinces of Hainaut, Liège, Namur,
  Luxembourg, and Walloon Brabant, in contrast to
  the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the northern
  provinces.

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Etymology of Walloon

• a. F. Wallon (fem. Wallonne), n. and a.med.L.
  Walln-em, f. Teut. walah, walh, foreigner (OE.
  wealh) see WELSH a. The name represents the
  appellation given by the Teut. Flemings and
  Franks to their Romanic-speaking neighbours.

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Four Major Belgian Literary Movements

• Romanticism
• Realism
• Naturalism
• Symbolism

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Romanticism

• Romanticism stressed strong emotion,
  imagination, freedom within or even from
  classical notions of form in art, and overturning
  of previous social conventions, particularly the
  position of the aristocracy. There was a strong
  element of historical and natural inevitability
  in its ideas, stressing the importance of
  "nature" in art and language. Romanticism is also
  noted for its elevation of the achievements of
  what it perceived as heroic individuals and
  artists

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Realism

• The realists sought to render everyday
  characters, situations, dilemmas, and events all
  in an "accurate" (or realistic) manner. Realism
  began as a reaction to romanticism, in which
  subjects were treated idealistically. Realists
  tended to discard theatrical drama and classical
  forms of art to depict commonplace or 'realistic'
  themes.

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Naturalism

• Naturalistic writers were influenced by the
  evolution theory of Charles Darwin. They believed
  that one's heredity and surroundings decide one's
  character. Whereas realism seeks only to describe
  subjects as they really are, naturalism also
  attempts to determine "scientifically" the
  underlying forces (i.e. the environment or
  heredity) influencing these subjects' actions.

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Symbolism

• Symbolism was in large part a reaction against
  Naturalism and Realism. Symbolists believed that
  art should aim to capture more absolute truths
  which could only be accessed by indirect methods.
  Thus, they wrote in a highly metaphorical and
  suggestive manner, endowing particular images or
  objects with symbolic meaning.

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• Maurice Maeterlinck
• 18621949
• Influenced by the mystical thought of Novalis
  and Emerson his eventual 60-odd volumes can be
  read as a symbolist manifesto. Their suggestion
  of universal mystery, their insistence on ennui
  and impending doom affected the mood of a whole
  generation before World War I. Maeterlinck was
  awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Literature. His
  works include the short story Le Massacre des
  innocents (1886) the plays Les Aveugles (1891,
  tr. The Blind), Pelléas et Mélisande (1892),
  which inspired Debussy's opera (1902), Monna
  Vanna (1902), and L'Oiseau bleu (1909, tr. The
  Blue Bird), an allegorical fantasy for children
  that denies the reality of death the essays La
  Vie des abeilles (1901, tr. The Life of the Bee)
  and L'Intelligence des fleurs (1907, tr. Life and
  Flowers) and poems.

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• Émile Verhaeren
• 18551916
• A Fleming who wrote in French. He had a disgust
  with mankind and a passion for social reform. He
  wrote naturalistic verse. A period of gloom and
  melancholic unrest in which he traveled over
  Western Europe and spent much time in London is
  reflected in a trilogy of poetic worksLes Soirs
  and Les Débâcles (both 1888), and Les Flambeaux
  noirs (1891). He also wrote for his wife, Marthe
  Massin, a trilogy of love poemsLes Heures
  claires (1896, tr. The Sunlit Hours, 1916), Les
  Heures de l'après-midi (1905, tr. Afternoon,
  1917), and Les Heures du soir (1911, tr. The
  Evening Hours, 1918). Outstanding among his
  dramas, which combine verse and prose, is Hélène
  de Sparte (1912, tr. 1916). The poems in Les
  Ailes rouges de la guerre the red wings of war
  (1917) are his bitter protest against war.

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• Georges Simenon
• 19031989
• One of the most prolific of modern authors--he
  was able to write 60 to 80 pages a day. He is
  best known for the detective stories featuring
  Inspector Maigret. He also wrote more than a
  hundred psychological novels, which he called
  romans durs (hard novels), such as The Stain on
  the Snow (1938) and The Cat (1976).

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• Georges Remi, a.k.a. Hergé
• 1907-1983
• Tintin is one of the most popular 20th
  century European comics. Over 200 million books
  have been published to date, with translations
  into over 50 languages. The comic book series has
  long been admired for its clean but expressive
  drawings (executed in Hergé's signature ligne
  claire style), engaging plots, and the
  painstaking research of the later stories. The
  series straddles a variety of genres
  swashbuckling adventures with elements of
  fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and
  science fiction. All the titles in the Tintin
  series include plenty of slapstick humour, offset
  in later albums by dashes of sophisticated satire
  and political/cultural commentary.

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• Cest Fin
• Merci Beaucoup
• Madame Goudarzi et tout le monde