Louis Paul Boon

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Hans Kolfschoten, Louis Paul Boon, Hanny Michaelis & Jacques Presser (1967)

Louis Paul Boon (born March 15, 1912 in Aalst , Belgium , † May 10, 1979 in Erembodegem near Aalst) was a Flemish writer and journalist. He is considered one of the most important Dutch- speaking authors in the Netherlands .

Life

Boon was born as Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht Boon in 1912 to a working-class family in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. His father was a painter and varnisher, his mother ran a paint business. Boon, a talented student, was supposed to be a locksmith, but he was expelled from elementary school for trivial matters and had to help his father as a house painter. He was a keen reader and since his youth has spent most of his free time reading. He also loved painting: on the weekends he studied at the Aalsterse Academie voor Schone Kunsten . A serious illness in his father forced him to drop out of studies in 1929. Boon now had to support the family of five and commuted between Aalst and Gent , where he was a car painter.

In the early 30s he came into contact with anarchist and socialist circles, which gained influence over him, but which he never made himself available as an activist. In 1936 he married Jeanneke de Wolf, and in 1938 they had a son, their only child. When the Second World War broke out in 1939 , Boon was drafted into military service, which he spent mainly in the barracks. During this time he devoted himself mainly to his artistic interests. Besides painting and drawing, he read a lot; Among other things, he got to know Céline's novel Reise zum Ende der Nacht , which had a lasting influence on his literary development. In 1940, after the German troops marched in, Boon was taken prisoner at Fallingbostel . In August 1940 he was released back to Belgium. The next time he spent doing various odd jobs. Boon had been writing since the 1930s (one novel remained a fragment), his first publication in 1941 was the novel De voorstad groeit (The suburbs grow), for which he was awarded the Leo J. Krijns Prize in 1942 .

With further publications in the 1940s and 1950s, Boon made a lasting name for himself in Flemish and Dutch literature. In 1945 he became the editor of De roode Vaan (The Red Flag), the central organ of the Dutch- speaking communists. He soon gave up this position because of differences of opinion. He worked for various newspapers and magazines, including a. for Vooruit , Het Parool , De Zweep and Zondagspost . In addition to prose, he also published journalistic works here. His most important work is De Kapellekensbaan (1953) (Ger. Der Kapellekensweg , 2002), which is considered one of the most important works of Dutch-language post-war literature. In 1967 he received the Constantijn Huygensprijs for his complete works and twice the Belgian State Prize. Until his death in 1979 he wrote numerous novels.

Works

  • De voorstad groeit (1941)
  • Abel Gholaerts (1944) (German Abel Gholaerts , 1990)
  • Vergeten straat (1946)
  • Mijn kleine oorlog (1946) (German My Little War , 1988; Alexander Verlag, 2012)
  • De Kapellekensbaan (1953) (Ger. A street in Ter-Muren , 1970; A girl from Ter-Muren , 1986; Der Kapellekensweg , 2002)
  • Menuet (1955) ( Minuet , Berlin: Alexander-Verl., 2011)
  • Niets gaat ten onder (1956)
  • De kleine Eva uit de Kromme Bijlstraat (1956)
  • Zomer te Ter-Muren (1956) (German summer in Ter-Muren , 1986)
  • De bende van Jan de Lichte (1957) (Ger. Jan de Lichte and his gang , 1987)
  • De zoon van Jan de Lichte (1962)
  • Dorp in Vlaanderen (1966)
  • Geniaal, maar met korte beentjes (1967)
  • Wat een leven (1967)
  • Over mijn boeken (1969)
  • Pieter Daens of hoe in de negentiende eeuw de arbeiders van Aalst vocht tegen armoede en onrecht (1971)
  • Mieke Maaike's obscene jeugd (1972)
  • Zomerdagdroom (1973)
  • De meisjes van Jesses (1973) (Eng. The Jesses girls , 1977)
  • David's jonge dagen (1974)
  • De zwarte hand of het anarchisme van de negentiende eeuw in het industriestadje Aalst (1976)
  • Het Geuzenboek (1979)
  • Eros en de eenzame man (1980)
  • Vertellingen van Jo (1989)

Filmography

Literary template
  • 1999: Vergeten straat
  • 1993: Daens - based on the novel "Pieter Daens"
  • 1982: Minuet ( Menuet )
script
  • 1980: De witte

literature

  • Karl-Markus Gauß : In the forest of the metropolises, chapter Louis Paul Boon: P. 282–290, Zsolnay, Vienna 2010.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Boon, Louis Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boon, Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Aalst
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1979
Place of death Erembodegem near Aalst