Willem Elsschot

Willem Elsschot (7 May 1882 - 31 May 1960), was a Flemish writer and poet (pseudonym of Alfons-Jozef De Ridder). Few of his works have been translated into English.

Life

Alfons-Jozef was born in Antwerp to a baker's family. During secondary school, he developed a love for literature. He was quite restless, having various types of jobs in cities from Antwerp and Brussels to Rotterdam and Paris. During the First World War, he served as the secretary of a national food relief committee in Antwerp. After the war he started his own advertising agency, which he ran until his death.

Willem Elsschot died in Antwerp in 1960, receiving a national literary award posthumously. he is interred in the Antwerpen Schoonselhof.

Works

:For the translation of the titles, see the "Bibliography" section

Elsschot published poems in a magazine titled "Alvoorder". His writing took off while he worked in Rotterdam, where he wrote "Villa des Roses" (1913). His most famous work came in the 1920s and 1930s: "Lijmen" (1924), "Kaas" (1933), "Tsjip" (1934) en "Het Been" (1938).

Central themes in his work are business and family life. His style is characterised by detailed descriptions of surroundings and a mild cynicism. In his first books he works with the same characters, giving the readers a familiarity and scetching the image of 30's Antwerp. His characters, Boorman an entrepreneur on one side (always looking for scams and opportunities like in the book Kaas "Cheese",) and Frank Laarmans, a clerk, evolve through these books until Laarmans (in the very poetical, pensioen "pension"), in his later days finds himself going home. Retired. And goes out for the very last time before ending,very cynically, but satisfied... home.

Some lines of his poem "Het Huwelijk"/"The Marriage" (1933) are among the most cited poetry in the Dutch language. [ [http://www.klassieken.nl/boekboek/show?id=33112&dbid=7972&framenoid=32759&typeofpage=30185 Willem Elsschot] [http://www.collegenet.nl/content/digilessen/literatuurgeschiedenis/interbellum/012.htm Willem Elsschot]
The often cited lines are:
"Maar doodslaan deed hij niet, want tussen droom en daad
staan wetten in de weg en praktische bezwaren,
en ook weemoedigheid, die niemand kan verklaren,
en die des avonds komt, wanneer men slapen gaat."
Translated (approximately, to keep rhyme):
"But strike dead he did not, for between dream and deed
laws and practical gripes remain,
and wistfulness, which none can explain,
which comes in the evening, when one goes to sleep."]

Bibliography

* "Villa des Roses" (1913; translated in 1992 by Paul Vincent [ISBN 1-86207-616-2] )
* "Een ontgoocheling" ("A Disappointment", 1921)
* "De verlossing" ("Deliverance", 1921)
* "Lijmen" (1924, translated as "Soft Soap" and collected in "Three Novels", 1965)
* "Kaas" ("Cheese", 1933, translated in 2002 by Paul Vincent [ISBN 1-86207-481-X] - [http://mostlyfiction.com/humor/elsschot.htm Review] )
* "Tsjip" (1934)
* "Verzen van vroeger" ("Poems from the Past", 1934)
* "Pensioen" ("Pension", 1937)
* "Het been" (1938, translated as "The Leg" and collected in "Three Novels")
* "De leeuwentemmer" ("The Lion Tamer", 1940)
* "Het tankschip" ("The Mammoth Tanker", 1942)
* "Het dwaallicht" (1946, short story, translated as "Will o' the Wisp" and collected in "Three Novels")
* "Verzameld werk" ("Collected works", 1957)

ee also

* Flemish literature
* Lijmen/Het Been

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.weg.be Elsschot society] (Dutch)