BELGIAN LITERATURE, FRENCH

belgian [it- erature which was so flourishing at the beginning of the zoth century, sulfered some severe losses during the next two decades. charles van lerberghe, the greatest belgian poct after ver- haeren, whose correspondence with f. severin has appeared recently, died prematurely in 1907. the powerful novelist, camille lemonnier, succumbed to a grave illness, in 1913; his last works being a tragedy, edemie (1912), and a symbolic story au coeur frais dela forct (1913). emile verhaeren died in 1916. more recently edmond picard, a well-known lawyer and critic who exerted a considerable influence on the younger generation, and ivan gilkin, one of the founders of la jeune belgique, 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 that was published in 1912. war literature—the war itself inspired a great amount of literature both inside and outside belgium. most of these pro- ductions have only an historical interest, others deserve to be considered as contributions to belgian letters. among the latter, must of course be included all the writings of macterlinck and verhaeren. a soldier poet, disciple of verhacren, maurice gauchez came to the fore with les rufales (1917), and emile cammaerts published in london a series of poems, belgian poems (1915), new belgian poems (1916) and messines and other poems (1918), which attracted a great deal of attention. the most interesting productions of war literature are, how- ever, those which were written during the four years of german occupation (1914-8) or immediately after the deliverance of the country. a. giraud, and m. elskamp, published two notable books of poems, le laurier and sous les tentes de pexil (1923), and the historian, h. pirenne, souvenirs de capiizite en allemagie. among other works of prose let us mention the anonymous lef- tres d'un provincial ou les propos du conseilicr eudoxe, a satire on german administration after the style of pascal, l’oei sur les ostrogoths by e. verlant, the war memories of m. lekeux, a franciscan monk who fought as an officer of artillery, afes 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. cer- tain endowments were entrusted to it, such as that of the french societe des auteurs et compositeurs of a biennial prize for dra- - matic literature. the academy passed resolutions which were acted upon by the govt. and undertook an enquiry into the situation of the french language throughout the world. most of the 14 original members of the academy formerly be- longed to the group of la jeune belgique, and at the end of this period were already looked upon as the writers of the older gen- eration. 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 ap- peared in r914; the parnassian poet, albert giraud, who, besides le laurier mentioned above, published eros ef psyche in 1920 and le concert dans un musee; ¥. severin, who was particularly successful in his descriptions of walloon countryside (la source au fond des bois); the poet essayist a. mockel (la flamme im- mortelle, 1924), and two accomplished novelists and story- writers of walloon extraction: h. krains (afes amis, 1921) and l. delattre (du cete 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 belgian literature—belgium by the belgian public in modern and ancient painting. among the poets and playwrights who, more recently, devoted part of their time to art criticism are: g. le roy in james fnsor (1922) a. goffin in l’ art religieux en belgigue (1924) and g. vanzype 1n l’ art belge du roeme siecle (1923), henri de braekeleer and rubens, 1t 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 col- leagues to mistake their pen for the brush. among the most distinguished works of the latter since the war, may be men- tioned h. stiernet’s le roman d'un tonnelicr, 1. 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 dytigues and r. dupierreux’s la certitude amoureuse; among the former, the most original writers are: hf. van offel (les deux ingenus), f. wellens (zu ecoutant le bruit de mes tulons), and a. t’serstevens (le vagabond sentimental). poetry and the drama.—lit is almost impossible to classify the various tendencies which inspired the work of the modern poets. we find, on one side, a remarkable group of religious poets such as v. kinon (l’eme des siaisons), p. nothomb (portes du ciel), th. braun (le beaut temps), p. fierens and g. raemackers who illustrate the mystical side of the belgian temperament; on the other, the group of ‘‘ la renaissance d’occident,”’ headed by m. gauchez (hymne 4 la vic) who exalt the joy of life, following the realistic tendencies of verhaeren. a certain number of poets, like marie gevers, (amissembourg-a ntoinettc), and e. cammacrts, potmes intimes (1922) insist on the intimacy of homelife, others, like e. marcuse and l. kochnitzky, elegies bruxelloises, follow impressionist and humoristic tendencies. r. verboom, m. thiry and n. ruct may be mentioned among the most promising poets of the younger generation. when considering the drama, we have again to deplore the loss of verhacren whose last tragedy hwelene de sparte was given in paris in r912. from maeterlinck, we have had: the burgomaster of stilemonde (1918), produced in england by sir martin harvey; the betrothal (1918), a sequel to the blue bird (1910), 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, 30 years ago, was almost repeated, in 1920, by a young belgian playwright, f. crommelynck, whose semi-grotesque, semi-tragic play, le cocu magnifique (1921), created a sensation at the theatre de l’oeuvre. this author, who seems strongly influenced by the biting humour of pieter breughel, published more recently 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 semuilles, les visages, les autres to his already lengthy list of works. the dramatic power of belgian writers can also be clearly detected in the two plays of p. spaak, afalgre ceux gut tombent, and g. rency, la derniere victoire, while such works as {{. soumagne’s z’uutre 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 vounger gen- eration. 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. (e. ca.*)