Willem Elsschot

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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.

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 off 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 cynicaly, but satisfied... home.

Some lines of his poem Het Huwelijk/The Marriage (1933) are one of the most cited poetry in Dutch language.[1]

[edit] 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] - 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)

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Willem Elsschot 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."

[edit] External links

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