Herman Teirlinck

Teirlinck (1905)

Herman Louis Cesar Teirlinck (born February 24, 1879 Sint-Jans-Molenbeek , † February 4, 1967 Beersel ) was a Belgian novelist, playwright and poet . For several of his books, but also for other authors, he designed book covers, for example for CAJ van Dishoeck in Bussum twelve.

Life

Teirlinck was born as one of five children of the playwright Isidoor Teirlinck and the teacher Josefine van Nieuwenhove. Due to his poor health, he spent most of his youth with his paternal grandparents in Zegelsem . He completed his school days in Brussels . Although Terlinck felt called to be a writer, he began, following his father's wish, to study medicine in Brussels. However, since this was not his thing at all, he broke it off and began studying German in Ghent , but also finished it prematurely. In 1902 he married Mathilde Lauwers. In the same year he was hired by the municipality of Brussels, where he translated the monthly reports of the Royal Flemish Theater (KVS) into French . So his interest in drama grew. Terlinck wanted to raise the artistic level of the KVS, at which, under the direction of Edmond Hendrikx as the Volksbühne, mainly simple pieces from the 19th century were performed, and founded an "art committee" for this purpose. Together with the actor Laroche, he ran for the two-man board of directors of the KVS at the age of 23. As an amateur, he worked on various pieces himself, preferably disguised as a woman. He also appeared as a singer. However, the second attempt at applying for a director post in 1907 also failed.

Since 1903 he was co-editor of the magazine Vlaanderen ("Flanders"), the successor to Van Nu en Straks ("Now and Later"). From 1906 Teirlinck was the Belgian correspondent for the "Algemeen Handelsblad". He now lived in Brussels, where in 1909 he became involved in local politics in the Brussels suburb of Linkebeek . In the same year his essay “The Art of Theater” appeared, in which he revealed himself to be a supporter of the theater innovator, Edward Gordon Craig . From 1910 to 1936 he was a Dutch teacher at the municipal boys' school in Brussels.

In 1919 he became a member of the Royal Flemish Academy for Language and Literature. Since then, his influence has grown. He became a teacher of the Flemish language at the royal court and advisor for art and science to the kings Albert I , Leopold III. and Bouduin I.

From 1925 to 1938 he taught Dutch at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and from 1928 to 1936 at the City School for Girls in Brussels. In the intervening period he was director of a furniture factory from 1912 to 1926 and secretary of the employers' association of the Belgian wood industry. In this function he also traveled to the former colony of Belgian Congo .

From 1928 Teirlinck was associated with the National College of Architecture and Design as a lecturer for theater technology; In 1938 he became its director. After his first wife died in 1928, he married Johanna Hoofmans in 1931. In 1929 he had the architect Victor Bourgeois build a villa in Sint-Idesbald . In the same year his daughter Leentje married the only son of Henry van de Velde , Thyl van de Velde. In 1936 he moved to Beersel .

After the Second World War , Teirlinck became co-founder and director of the New Flemish Magazine ( Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift ) in 1946 . In the same year he set up the National Theater Studio in Antwerp, later known as Studio Herman Teirlinck . In 1951 he became a consultant at the Ministry of Education. Teirlinck died in 1967, 20 days before his 88th birthday. His house in Beersel-Lot was set up as a Teirlinck Museum and art gallery.

Prices

• 1925 - State Prize of the Flemish Society for Theater Literature for The Man Without Life
• 1928 - State Prize for Drama for Ave.
• 1950 - Grand State Prize of the Flemish Society for Flemish Literature for his complete works
• 1956 - Dutch Literature Prize (awarded by the Dutch Language Union )

Teirlinck has been awarded four honorary doctorates :

• University of Brussels (1938)
• University of Amsterdam (1947)
• University of Luik (1954)
• Ghent University (1959)

Works

• Verzen (1900; poems)
• Landelijke historiën (1901; novel)
• De wondbaren wereld (1902; novel)
• Het silent yesterday (1903; novel)
• 't Bedrijf van den kwade (1904; novel)
• De doolage (1905; novel)
• Zon, een bundel beschrijvingen (1906; essays)
• De kroonluchter, kunstgenootschap (1907; novel)
• Het avontuurlijk leven van Lieven Cordaat (1908)
• Mijnheer JB Serjanszoon, orator didacticus (1908; novel)
• Het ivoren aapje (1909; roman)
• Johan Doxa, Vier herinneringen aan een Brabantschen Gothieker (1917; novel); In 1916 parts of it appeared in Germany under the title: Johann Doxa. Scenes from the life of a Brabant Gothic . ( Insel-Bücherei 217/1)
• De Nieuwe Uilenspiegel of de jongste incarnatie van den schelaken Thijl (1920; adaptation of the old folk tale by Till Eulenspiegel )
• De vertraagde film (1922; drama)
• Het Lied van Peer Lobbe (1923; short story collection)
• Ik dien (1924; drama)
• De man zonder lijf (1925; drama)
• De wonderlijke mei (1925; drama)
• De leemen torens (1928; epistolary novel with Karel van de Woestijne )
• De ekster op de galg (1937; drama)
• Elckerlyc (1937)
• Ave (1938; drama)
• Maria Speermalie, 1875-1937 (1940; novel)
• De XXXX brieven aan Rolande (1944)
• Het gevecht met de engel (1952; novel)
• Zelfportret of Het galgemaal (1955; novel)
• Wijding voor een derde geboorte (1956; theater theory essays)
• Dramatic Peripatetikon (1959; theater textbook)
• Verzameld werk (Collected Works), 8 volumes (1955–1969)
• Verzameld werk (Collected Works), 9 volumes (1973)

Web links

Commons : Herman Teirlinck  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Herman Teirlinck in the catalog of the German National Library