Mededelingen van het Cyriel Buysse Genootschap 11

33

July 5, 1901

...

I now turn to Flemish books, of which I translate most of the titles for convenience'[s] sake. Writers of this sort confined themselves at

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first almost exclusively to poetry and novels; but they seem to be extending their activity every year. Thus we have now some valuable contributions to pedagogie literature, such as the handbook of education and pedagogy by H. Temmerman, and a book on the faults of children by M. Pol Anri, who is already familiar as a writer on such subjects. M.J.A. Torfs has been publishing some curious reminiscences of the primary school as it existed in Belgium between 1840 and 1850.

The history of the fine arts is represented by the continuation of the splendidly illustrated work by M. Max Rooses on Dutch and Flemish painters of the day. M.M. Verkest has also written on some of our contemporary artists a[t] Bruges.

National history has also furnished its usual quota of volumes. A learned young scholar, M. Victor Fris, has produced a work of great value in his sketch of the economic situation of Flanders in the middle of the fifteenth century. M.J. van Vliebergh has studied the Reformation in the district between Ghent and Antwerp, ‘De Hervorming in het Land van Waas’; MM. F. vanden Bergh and E. Cortebeeck have issued some memoirs on the French domination in Belgium (1792-1815); and several writers have produced works on our local history. M.A. Kenis has studied the curious schismatic sect known as the Stevenists, which was the result of a protest in Belgium against the Pope on the occasion of the Concordat which Napoleon I. forced out of him. Finally, M.J. Rechts tells the history of the struggle of the Flemish for the maintenance of their language against the invasion of French, which has lasted from the thirteenth century to the present day.

One of the chief literary events of the past year was the appearance of the first four parts of the great and long-expected work of M.F. Van Duyse on old Netherland songs, in which the author proposes to study thoroughly the words and tunes of all the popular songs of Holland and Flemish Belgium. This book, which will form a worthy pendant to the similar German collections of Erk and Böhme, has taken more than twenty years in preparation. I may also notice the first part of an old book of popular songs of Ypres by MM. Albert Blyan and M. Tasseel, in which they publish chansons gathered from the lips of the people, mostly new to print. Many of these songs have a rhythm which accompanies the work of the lace- makers.

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In literary history I may notice first the ‘History of the Literature of the Netherlands,’ by M. Émile Deneef, which fully deserved to be crowned by the Royal Academy of Belgium. MM. Coopman and Scharpé are continuing their history of Flemish letters from 1830 to the present day, a work rich in illustrations. Mlle. Marie Belpaire has studied the romance of rural scenes in Flanders and abroad. Some friends of the late poet Guido Gezelle have devoted a volume of recollections to his memory. The Abbé Hugo Verriest has also sketched some Flemish literary figures in his book ‘Twenty Flemish Faces.’ Finally, the poet Pol de Mont has devoted a book to three celebrated countrymen of ours - the novelist Henri Conscience, the poet Jan van Beers, and the musician Peter Benoit.

We have always had abundance of poets, old and young. I may notice this year ‘In the Forest and the Meadow,’ by M. Antoon Moortgat; ‘Verses,’ by M. Prosper van Langendonck; ‘Ideals,’ by M. René de Clercq; and ‘Verses,’ by M. Herman Teirlinck. Briefly, we have promising men and first appearances, but nothing very striking.

At the theatre the first place has been taken by the poignant realism of M.L. Scheltjens in his pieces ‘The Maker of Bricks’ and ‘The Poachers.’ M.A. Hendrickx has produced a rather vulgar, but lively sketch of manners at Ghent in ‘Triconie & Co’; and I must also notice the fine Hindoo drama ‘Siddartha, the Star of India,’ by MM. Minnaert, brothers who have been awarded the triennial prize started by the Belgian Government for the encouragement of the national drama.

Novels are especially abundant this year. By the side of two new writers of talent and promise, Mlle. Anna Germonprez and M. Hendrik Coopman, may be placed the following commendable performances of older hands: ‘Walter's Youth,’ by M. Omer Wattez; and ‘The Schrikkel Family,’ by Hilda Ram, who has also published a capital novelette, ‘Victims of the Transvaal,’ which pictures the gamins of Antwerp fighting their Street battles in the guise of English and Boers. The principal novels of the year are ‘Summertide’ and ‘Summerland,’ by Steyn Streuvels, which is the pen-name of M. Frank Lateur. The author is a pastrycook in a small village of Eastern Flanders, whose prose has carried his name as far as Holland. I must also mention a very painstaking, but rather melodramatic novel, ‘A Lion of Flanders,’ by M. Zolas principal disciple in that country, M. Cyriel Buysse. It is a first-rate delineation of the

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political parties which have agitated Belgium since the introduction of universal suffrage, especially of the Christian Democrats, who have many points of likeness to the Socialists.

I conclude with a reference to some Flemish work on foreign authors of merit. A Dominican has rendered in flowing prose the three parts of Dante's ‘Divine Comedy,’ whilst the Abbé Merville has made a metrical translation of Longfellow's ‘Evangeline.’ M. vander Voort has written a big volume on William Shakspeare. Lastly, a work has been written in English by M. Paul de Reul on ‘The Language of Caxton's “Reynard the Fox.”’ This study of the historical syntax of the English language by a pupil of Prof. Logeman, of the University of Ghent, should certainly interest specialist[s] in England.

PAUL FREDERICQ
[Trld Editor]