Seldom have there been three texts with the same title, written by three different authors from three different countries. Also unlikely is the fact that the texts have been written in three different genres reflecting three different eras in Belgium’s past. This article directs your attention to this anomaly. Consider…
Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919) was a playwright considered the father of Russian Expressionism. This literary form was an early 20th Century movement that tended to radically distort reality for emotional effect. Andreyev writings were strident in his views regarding political unrest, worker’s rights, and militarism. His 6-act play The Sorrow of Belgium found a responsive readership, especially in Northern Europe. He sets this play at the onset of World War I at the home of a fictious Belgian poet and thinker—a man regarded as the “conscience of the Belgian nation.”
Andreyev had profound sympathy for the Belgian victims but was even more emotive and exaggerated in his disdain for the German “barbaric” (his word) militarism. The characters are somewhat philosophical and passive initially about their occupation but after the death of the poet’s son, they seek reprisals. They plot revenge so that: “Belgium will live and will see a new Spring once again— with a bloom on the tress of Brussels.”
Hugo Claus (1929-2008) needs little to no introduction. He is considered by many to be the most important contemporary Belgian author. His most recognized work is Het verdriet van Belgiё or The Sorrow of Belgium. The London newspaper The Guardian proclaimed it the “most important Dutch-language novel of the 20th century and one of the greats of post- World War II Europe.”
Stylistically the novel is unique in that it is fiction and semi-autobiographical. The Sorrow of Belgium is a coming-of-age story (known as the Bildungsroman format) about a young boy in a fictious Flemish town near Kortrijk. The story parallels his own life as he, Hugo, navigates his way through the challenges of adolescence, family issues, religion, and the harsh realities of German occupation of Belgium.
Not unlike novel’s protagonist (a boy named Louis), many of Claus’ teachers ,friends and father were sympathetic to the Flemish collaboration with the Germans. Claus and the fictious Louis attended Hitler youth meetings in Mechlenburg and later joined the pro-German youth wing of the Flemish National Union. As he matures into adulthood Hugo, and by extension his protagonist Louis, became acutely aware of the narrowness of their family, their education, and their politics. In the novel Louis, like Hugo Claus in real life, became writers.
Martin Conway is an Oxford University historian whose research focuses on the political history of Belgium. His 2012 monograph The Sorrow of Belgium 1944-1947 is a focused archival account of Belgium’s post-World War II political struggles.
Although September 1944 marked the end of the harsh German occupation of Belgium, it also marked the beginning of a very different period of turbulence. Post-occupation, a political vacuum emerged among political rivals. King Leopold and his supporters, labor, the resistance movement, the exiled government in London, the Catholic hierocracy, etc. all jockeyed for political ascendency.
Conway contends that the differences in social class and the self-segregation of linguistic and regional differences added to the social crisis. Demonstrations, worker strikes and protests threatened the fabric of the nation state of Belgium. There was no easy road towards peace. Conway labels this 1944-1947 tension: The Sorrow of Belgium. The book ends optimism however as after the 1947 election, a certain stability was achieved and
Belgium began to re-integrate into the Western political order.
Readers of these three books —all entitled The Sorrow of Belgium—might conclude that these authors paint-a-picture of doom and gloom.
Certainly, that was the case during the struggles of both World Wars but not necessarily today. Belgium has emerged as a nation state with one of the highest standards of living on the planet. It is on the cutting edge of technological development and the Belgian health care system is the envy of many. The same holds true with the country’s university system. Belgium’s ability to function as a tri-lingual, tri-cultural blend is a gold -standard example for any democratic republic that hopes to mitigate differences. Belgium has a lot to celebrate….need we mention the waffles, chocolate, and beer?
Fun Facts
—Hugo Claus was a prolific writer with over 35 original pieces. But he also was an accomplished painter with many solo exhibitions. In cinematography , Hugo directed seven films with Het sacrament winning an award in the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. He also had a developed sense of humor in that he often spoofed Belgium’s bi-lingual “troubles.” Hugo Claus died in 2008 in Antwerp.
—Martin Conway is presently an advisor to the Journal of Belgium History— a peer reviewed academic journal published quarterly by the Centre for Historical Research and Documentation ( acronym; CEGESOMA) –a research institute and archive based in Brussels.
— Leonid Andreyev has been labeled a “Russian Edgar Allan Poe”— comparing him to America’s celebrated writer of horrors. In the early 20th century this genre, including Andreyev’s Sorrow of Belgium, was very popular in the English-speaking world.
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