Georges Rodenbach
Encyclopedia
Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist
poet and novelist.
to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland (Andernach
). He went to school in Ghent
at the prestigious Sint-Barbaracollege
, where he became friends with the poet Emile Verhaeren
. Rodenbach worked as a lawyer and journalist. He spent the last ten years of his life in Paris as the correspondent of the Journal de Bruxelles, and was an intimate of Edmond de Goncourt
. He published eight collections of verse and four novels, as well as short stories, stage works and criticism. He produced some Parisian and purely imitative work; but a major part of his production is the outcome of a passionate idealism of the quiet Flemish towns in which he had passed his childhood and early youth. In his best known work, Bruges-la-Morte
(1892), he explains that his aim is to evoke the town as a living being, associated with the moods of the spirit, counselling, dissuading from and prompting action. Bruges-la-Morte was used by the composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold
as the basis for his opera Die Tote Stadt
. Albrecht Rodenbach
, his cousin, was a poet and novelist as well, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature
of the 19th century.
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
poet and novelist.
Biography
Georges Rodenbach was born in TournaiTournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland (Andernach
Andernach
Andernach is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of currently about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the Neuwied basin on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing village of Fornich in the north and the mouth of the...
). He went to school in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
at the prestigious Sint-Barbaracollege
Sint-Barbaracollege
The Sint-Barbaracollege in Gent, Belgium is a private Jesuit school, founded in 1832.The school is built on the location of a cloister, the "Sint Barbaraklooster in Jerusalem". The cloister was founded in 1420 for Augustinian nuns, closed in 1783 by order of Joseph II, briefly reopened but closed...
, where he became friends with the poet Emile Verhaeren
Emile Verhaeren
Emile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism....
. Rodenbach worked as a lawyer and journalist. He spent the last ten years of his life in Paris as the correspondent of the Journal de Bruxelles, and was an intimate of Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond de Goncourt
Edmond de Goncourt , born Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt, was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.-Biography:...
. He published eight collections of verse and four novels, as well as short stories, stage works and criticism. He produced some Parisian and purely imitative work; but a major part of his production is the outcome of a passionate idealism of the quiet Flemish towns in which he had passed his childhood and early youth. In his best known work, Bruges-la-Morte
Bruges-la-Morte
Bruges-la-Morte is a short novel by the Belgian author Georges Rodenbach, first published in 1892. The title is difficult to translate but might be rendered as The Dead City of Bruges...
(1892), he explains that his aim is to evoke the town as a living being, associated with the moods of the spirit, counselling, dissuading from and prompting action. Bruges-la-Morte was used by the composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
as the basis for his opera Die Tote Stadt
Die tote Stadt
Die tote Stadt is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The libretto is by the composer and Paul Schott , and is based on Bruges-la-Morte, a short novel by Georges Rodenbach.-Performance history:When Die tote Stadt had its premiere on December 4, 1920, Korngold was just 23...
. Albrecht Rodenbach
Albrecht Rodenbach
Albrecht Rodenbach was a Flemish poet, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature that occurred in the late 19th Century. He is more noteworthy as a symbol of the Flemish movement, than for his actual activities, since he died at the age of 23...
, his cousin, was a poet and novelist as well, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature
Flemish movement
The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....
of the 19th century.
Works
- Le Foyer et les Champs (1877), poetry
- Les Tristesses (1879), poetry
- La Belgique 1830-1880 (1880), historic poem
- La Mer élégante (1881), poetry
- L'Hiver mondain (1884)
- Vers d'amour (1884)
- La Jeunesse blanche (1886), poetry
- Du Silence (1888)
- L'Art en exil (1889)
- Bruges-la-MorteBruges-la-MorteBruges-la-Morte is a short novel by the Belgian author Georges Rodenbach, first published in 1892. The title is difficult to translate but might be rendered as The Dead City of Bruges...
(1892) - Le Voyage dans les yeux (1893)
- Le Voile, drama
- L'Agonie du soleil (1894)
- Musée de béguines (1894)
- Le Tombeau de Baudelaire (1894)
- La Vocation (1895), translated as Hans Cadzand's Vocation
- A propos de "Manette Salomon". L'Œuvre des Goncourt (1896)
- Les Tombeaux (1896)
- Les Vierges (1896)
- Les Vies encloses (1896), poem
- Le Carillonneur (1897)
- Agonies de villes (1897)
- Le Miroir du ciel natal (1898)
- Le Mirage (1900)