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 Bart Perdieus
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| General Description | Jacob Lodewijk Gerard, Baron Walschap (9 July 1898 – 25 October 1989), was a Belgian writer. As a writer he started his literary career with romantic poetry and Catholicism inspired theatre plays. In 1928, he published his first novel Waldo. He became widely known with his novel Adelaide, which appeared in 1929, and which was the first of a series of novels. Although initially well-received, the book caused him the rancour of the clergy, and his books were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This adverse reaction, which was not intended by Walschap, hurt him and after a long inner struggle and doubt he abandoned his faith and became a secular humanist. This inner struggle (with faith) would remain of significant importance in his literary work. Adelaide became part of the De familie Roothooft. In part of his work he considered society a burden which is hard to bear, such as in De bejegening van Christus (E: Meeting with Christ) (1940). In his work he also glorified the extremes of society, such as the primitive life in Volk (E: people) and De dood in het dorp (E: Death in the village) (1930), and the almost aggressive freedom in Het kind (E: The child) (1939) and De consul (1943) and the expression of worriless freedom in probably his most famous work Houtekiet (1939). His novel Zwart en wit (E: black and white) of 1948, dealt with the collaboration (Nazi-Collaborators were called blacks in Belgium, and resistance fighters whites) with Nazism and the repression after World War II. Zuster Virgilia, of 1951, dealt with the eternal fight between faith and disbelief. In his book Oproer in Kongo (E: Revolt in Congo) from 1953, he wrote about colonialism, which he conceived after along journey through Belgian Congo in 1951. As a writer he revealed his own inner self in Het gastmaal (1966) en Het avondmaal (E: Dinner) (1968), by using a modernistic writing style. He received several literary prizes, among which in 1968 was the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, and in 1975 he was knighted and made a Baron. Walschap died in Antwerp in 1989. |
| Catalog code | Vlaamse Weeldereeks 5 |
| Height | 136.00 mm |
| Width | 86.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
