(1854-)
"La Jeune Belgique" is more than a school; it is a literary movement,
which began about the year 1880. The aim of this group of writers is
to found a national literature, which uses the French language and
technique for the expression of the Flemish or Walloon spirit, and the
peculiar sentiment and individuality of the Belgian race which has
developed between the more powerful nations of France and Germany. In
the words of William Sharp:--
"To one who has closely studied the whole movement in its
intimate and extra-national bearings, as well as in its
individual manifestations and aberrations, its particular and
collective achievement in the several literary _genres_,
there is no question as to the radical distinction between
Belgic and French literature. Whether there be a great future
for the first, is almost entirely dependent on the concurrent
political condition of Belgium. If Germany were to
appropriate the country, it is almost certain that only the
Flemish spirit would retain its independent vitality, and
even that probably only for a generation or two. But if
Belgium were absorbed by France, Brussels would almost
immediately become as insignificant a literary centre as is
Lyons or Bordeaux, or be, at most, not more independent of
Paris than is Marseilles. Literary Belgium would be a memory,
within a year of the hoisting of the French tricolor from the
Scheldt to the Liege. Meanwhile, the whole energy of 'Young
Belgium' is consciously or unconsciously concentrated in the
effort to withstand Paris."
Among the leading spirits of "La Jeune Belgique" are Maurice
Maeterlinck, Georges Eekhoud, Camille Lemonnier, Georges Rodenbach,
J.K. Huysmans, Auguste Jenart, Eugene Demolder, and a number of
others, who have distinguished themselves in fiction and poetry. Their
works are generally inspired by the uncompromising sense of the
reality of ordinary life, which would sometimes be repulsive if it
were not for their brilliant style and psychological undercurrent.
This school of literature is somewhat analogous to that of the Flemish
painting. Nature is always an important accessory to the development
of the action; and therefore the landscapes and the _genre_ pictures
are given with a rapid and sure touch and in a vivid and high key,--so
high that at times the colors are almost crude. The reader of these
Belgian writers often feels, in consequence, that he is looking at a
series of paintings which are being explained by a narrator.
Of all these writers, Georges Eekhoud, whom Mr. Sharp calls "the
Maupassant of the Low Countries," is the one who has made the greatest
effort to model his work upon the style of the contemporary French
authors. He was born in Antwerp, May 27th 1854. His literary career
was begun as an editor of the Precursor, in Antwerp, but he soon
became associated with L'Etoile Beige as literary editor. In 1877 he
published his first volume, entitled 'Myrtes et Cypres.' This was
succeeded by a second book of poetry, 'Zigzags Poetiques et
Pittoresques,' which appeared in 1879. Among the most admired of these
poems are 'La Mare aux Sangues,' 'Nina,' 'Raymonne,' and the strong
'La Guigne.'
French critics say that his diction lacks polish, but that he has
strength, color, and a talent for description. His novels are--'Kees
Doorik' (1884), 'Les Kermesses' (1884), 'Les Milices de
Saint-Frangois' (1886), 'Les Nouvelles Kermesses' (1887), and 'La
Nouvelle Carthage' (1888). The latter is considered his most brilliant
novel, and won for him the quinquennial prize of 5,000 francs given
for French literature in Belgium. It is a vivid picture of Antwerp,
with vigorous and highly colored descriptions of its middle-class
citizens, enriched by centuries of continued prosperity. In general,
Eekhoud is naturalistic, and intent only on painting life as he sees
and feels it. His other books include--'Cycle Patibulaire' (1892); 'Au
Siecle de Shakespeare,' a valuable book on the English literature of
the Elizabethan period (1893); and 'Mes Communions' (1895).