Felix Timmermans

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Felix Timmermans

Felix Timmermans (born July 5, 1886 in Lier near Antwerp ; † January 24, 1947 there ) was a Flemish writer and painter .

Life

Felix Timmermans was born as the 13th child of a lace dealer. His father had chosen him to succeed him in the business, but he wrote his first poems as early as 1903 and soon became active as a painter. As a young person he got into a mental crisis, dealt with spiritualism , occultism and other ideologies , but found nowhere a spiritual home. This period is reflected in the collection of novels, Twilight of Death (1911, German 1978).

The turning point was brought about by an illness, the artistic result of which was Pallieter . This portrayal of the life of a young man, full of hearty, often coarse rascals , but also full of popular piety , and at the same time a portrait of the Flemish landscape and its inhabitants, became his best-known work (1916, German 1921).

In 1917 came The Child Jesus in Flanders , a story that relocated the birth of Jesus - in the tradition of Flemish painters, especially Pieter Brueghel - to his Flemish homeland (German 1919). His The Triptych of the Three Wise Men is also performed as a theater or puppet show.

For a Flemish novel book planned by Insel Verlag , Timmermans wrote The Very Beautiful Hours of Jungfrau Symforosa, the Beginchen , in 1918 , the love story of a Beguine whose unrealizable love finds its fulfillment in renunciation. In 1918 he gave his first lectures and readings in Holland. In 1922 he received the State Prize for Literature .

In 1923, The Pastor of the Blooming Vineyard (Ger. 1927) was published, a novel in which Timmermans deals with questions of faith. He was planning a novel about Francis of Assisi and therefore made a trip to Italy in 1925, about which the travel diary Ins Land der Orfelsinen (German 1949) tells.

From 1928 onwards, numerous reading trips took him to Germany and Switzerland. Up until 1939 it appeared several times in more than 140 cities. In 1932 De Harp van Sint Franciscus appeared , in the same year as Franziskus in German translation.

Bauernpsalm (1935; German 1936) is a song of praise for the life and work of the farmer . Timmermans was honored at home and abroad on his 50th birthday. He had since been nominated for the Nobel Prize three times .

The outbreak of the Second World War ended his reading tours. Even so, many relationships with his German readers remained alive. In 1941 he took part in the Weimar Poets 'Meeting , where the European writers who were willing to collaborate founded the "European Writers' Association". In 1942 he received the Rembrandt Prize of the Hamburg Hanseatic University for maintaining international cultural relations with the Dutch-speaking area.

After paying tribute to a Flemish painter in Pieter Bruegel in 1928 , he wrote the painter's novel Adriaan Brouwer (German 1951) in 1944 . The work, written in the first-person form with autobiographical features, already showed the first premonitions of death. Felix Timmermans had a heart condition. Because of his contacts with the Germans, he was attacked and placed under house arrest. His illness saved him from worse law enforcement.

While on his sickbed he wrote Adagio , poems that testify to his deep faith. He died on January 24, 1947.

In 1982 the asteroid (1664) discovered on February 4, 1929, Felix was named after him.

plant

In the 1990s, a complete edition of his works in 25 volumes was published in Belgium. In addition to his poetic work, Timmermans left numerous paintings and especially drawings, with which he often adorned his books. The sketches that he added to his signature in the books after his readings are numerous.

The Belgian Timmermans Society ( Felix Timmermans-Genootschap ) and the Felix Timmermans Circle in Flanders ( Felix Timmermanskring ) as well as the German Felix Timmermans Society deal with the life and work of the Flemish.

Ignaas Dom wrote the biography Felix Timmermans - A Poet from Flanders , published by the German Society in December 2000. At the same time, the biography of Gaston Durnez was published in Belgium by Lannoo, Tielt.

Although Timmermans no longer attracts the attention it received in Germany as it did between the world wars, there are still readings and theater performances of his works. Pallieter , Das Jesuskind in Flanders , Das Triptychon and Sankt Nikolaus in Not are also published by Insel Verlag , the latter also as a volume from the Insel-Bücherei and as a paperback and as a picture book by Speer-Verlag in Zurich.

Timmermann's literary work has been translated into 26 languages. All important works are available in German (in front the year of publication in Germany, in brackets that of the Dutch-language edition), in Insel Verlag , unless otherwise stated:

  • 1919: The baby Jesus in Flanders (1917)
  • 1920: The very beautiful hours of Maiden Symforosa, the Beginchen (1918)
  • 1921: Pallieter (1916)
  • 1923: The Triptych of the Three Kings (1923)
  • 1925: The light in the lantern (1924) [14 stories]
  • 1926: The game of the three kings. A Christmas legend, edited by Eduard Veterman and Felix Timmermans (1925)
  • 1926: Sankt Nikolaus in Not (1924), Stalling picture book 49, Stalling-Verlag, Oldenburg
  • 1927: The Pastor of the Blooming Vineyard (1923)
  • 1928: Pieter Breugel
  • 1929: Pieter Bruegel (1928)
  • 1929: From the beautiful Lier (1925)
  • 1930: The Dolphins (1921)
  • 1932: Francis (1932)
  • 1933: The Colorful Bowl (1933) [eleven stories]
  • 1933: The Ivory Flute - [three] Strange Tales from the Beguinage (1911)
  • 1935: Timmermans tells [16 stories]
  • 1936: Peasant Psalm (1935)
  • 1937: At the crab cooker (1934)
  • 1938: The light in the lantern, [22] new and old stories
  • 1939: I saw Cecilia coming (1938)
  • 1943: The Hernat Family (1941)
  • 1949: Adagio, [33] Poems (Dutch-German) (1947)
  • 1949: To the land of the oranges. An Italian Diary (1926), Schwann Verlag, Düsseldorf
  • 1950: Minneke Pus or The Beautiful Days in the Kempenland (1942), Schwann Verlag, Düsseldorf
  • 1951: Adriaan Brouwer (1948)
  • 1952: The invisible hand, his [17] most beautiful stories for young people, 1952
  • 1978: Dawns of Death (1910) [five stories]
  • 1997: happiness in silence
  • 1997: Sankt Nikolaus in Not (1924), picture book in Speer-Verlag Zurich

Film adaptations

Radio plays

Settings

  • Eva-Maria Houben : Adagio for soprano and piano (2009). Premiere October 24, 2009 (Timmermans Gesellschaft; Irene Kurka [soprano], Eva-Maria Houben [piano])
  • Jörn Heller : Adagio for soprano and piano (2002/2003). Premiere in German: September 20, 2003 in Ulm (Duo Campana: Martina Glock [soprano], Michael Glock [piano]), Premiere in Flemish: October 1, 2011 in Lier (Felix Timmermans Genootschap; Duo Campana)
  • Walter Furrer : The Faun, opera in two pictures based on motifs by Felix Timmermans (based on the novella The Christmas Faun ). First performance on January 24, 1947 at the Stadttheater Bern.

Felix Timmermans Society V. (FTG)

The Felix Timmermans Society was founded on February 18, 1990 and is a member of the Working Group of Literary Societies and Memorials . With over 300 members it works in the German-speaking area and also works together with the Timmermans associations in Flanders.

Her goals are to recognize Timmermans as a writer and painter. His lecture tours in Germany and Switzerland are being researched. The FTG offers lectures and readings, weekend conferences, excursions and exhibitions on the life and work of the poet and painter, as well as a yearbook and individual publications.

Web links

Commons : Felix Timmermans  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 6831
personal data
SURNAME Timmermans, Felix
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish writer and painter
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Lier near Antwerp
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1947
Place of death Lier near Antwerp