Belgian stamp honoring the writer

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. He died in Antwerp in 1960, receiving a national literary award posthumously.

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.

Bibliography

• Villa des roses (translated in 1992, same title), 1913)
• Een ontgoocheling ("A disappointment", 1921)
• De verlossing ("The deliverance", 1921)
• Lijmen ("Gluing", 1924)
• Kaas (translated "Cheese", 1933) - Review
• Tsjip (1934)
• Verzen van vroeger ("Poems from long ago", 1934)
• Pensioen ("Pension", 1937)
• Het been ("The leg", 1938)
• De leeuwentemmer ("The lion tamer", 1940)
• Het tankschip ("The mammoth tanker", 1942)
• Het dwaallicht ("Will-O'-the-wisp", 1946)
• Verzameld werk ("Collected writings", 1957)

External link

• Elsschot society (Flemish)