Maxence Van der Meersch

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Maxence Van der Meersch (1936)

Maxence Van der Meersch (born May 4, 1907 in Roubaix , North Department , † January 14, 1951 in Le Touquet , Pas-de-Calais Department ) was a French writer.

Life

Maxence Van der Meersch studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1934. In 1927 he met the young worker Thérèze Denis, with whom he lived in Wasquehal . In 1929 the daughter Sarah was born.

His first book, La Maison dans la Dune , was published in 1932. In the 18 years of his career, 17 books and numerous newspaper articles were published. In 1937 he received the Prix ​​Goncourt for "L'Empreinte de Dieux". After the end of the war, the company moved to Le Touquet.

Maxence Van der Meersch suffered from tuberculosis . However, he did not allow himself to be treated according to the methods of traditional medicine, which he rejected as mechanistic. He was a strict vegetarian.

The places Roubaix and Le Touquet are both in the former region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais , the northernmost region of France. It comprised the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais and is located on the Belgian border with its capital, Lille . Maxence Van der Meersch was associated with this region, which includes French Flanders , and forms the background to most of his works.

reception

Van der Meersch was an extraordinarily popular writer in the period between the world wars, who is now almost completely forgotten. Although individual titles have been reissued again and again to this day, a complete edition or a collection of his works has not yet come about.

body and soul

Like any great work of art, this novel can be read from a wide variety of perspectives: as a novel of development, as a romance novel, as a drastic criticism of traditional medicine, as a plea for natural healing methods, as a juxtaposition of a purely material and a humane attitude towards people. This novel - his main work - has been translated into 13 languages.

Michel is the son of the physician Doutreval in Angers and of course also studies medicine. Because of his father's position at the university clinic, he can look forward to a good career, even marriage to the daughter of another “great” of the medical faculty is already planned. The whole faculty with its intrigues and power struggles is shown vividly. But then he met a young worker in the hospital, with whom he fell in love. In a heated argument with his father, he finally tears himself away from his pre-planned life in order to settle down with his future wife in a small town as an ordinary doctor. Here he has to fight his way through a completely different social milieu than in his hometown in modest living conditions. He does what he has found right in his heart - that is one of the basic themes of the book. In doing so, he learns to work with natural healing methods, in contrast to the sometimes blatantly violent, but certainly not unrealistic methods of conventional medicine.

Works (selection)

  • La Maison dans la Dune . Albin Michel, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-226-08755-9 (EA Paris 1932).
    • German translation: The dark paths. Novel . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1952 (former title: Das Haus in den Dünen , 1948).
  • La fille pauvre . Albin Michel, Paris 1934 (content: La pêche du monde , La cœur pur and La compagne ).
    • German translation: The girl Denise . Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1983, ISBN 3-404-10315-7 (former title: The pure heart , 1959).
  • La petite Sainte Thérèse . Moulin de Pen-Mur 1953.
    • German translation: The little saint . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1954.
  • Quand les sirènes se taisent. Novel . Albin Michel, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-226-03992-9 (EA Paris 1933)
  • Femmes à l'encan. Un esclavagisme patenté . Éditions Michel, Paris 1945.
  • Les jeunes travailleurs en face du mariage . Éditions Jocistes, Brussels 1938.
  • Corps et âmes . Éditions Michel, Paris 1959 (EA Paris 1943)
  1. Enchaîné à toi-même ...
  2. Qu'un amour t'emporte! .
  • German translation: body and soul . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1970.
  • Pourquoi j'ai écrit "Corps et âmes". Éditions Michel, Paris 1956.
  • Le péché du monde .
    • German translation: The sin of the world. Novel . Krüger Verlag, Berlin 1948.
  • Pecheurs d'hommes . 1940.
    • German translation: People fisher . Herder, Freiburg / B. 1949 (EA Freiburg / B. 1941).
  • L'Empreinte de Dieu . 1936.
    • German translation: His legacy. Novel . Krüger Verlag, Hamburg 1946.
  • Vie du curé d'Ars . Albin Michel, Paris 1942.
  • L'elu. Novel . Éditions Michel, Paris 1937.
    • German translation: Drama about director Bramberger. Novel of a calling . Swiss People's Book Community, Lucerne 1949.
  • Car ils ne savent ce qu'ils font ... Roman . Éditions Michel, Paris 1933.
  • Invasion of the 14th novel . Éditions Michel, Paris 1952.

Adaptations

  • Pierre Billon (Director): La maison dans la dune. 1934 (based on the novel of the same name)
    • Remake: Georges Lampin (Director): Smugglers at work. 1952.
    • Remake: Michel Mees (Director): La maison dans la dune. 1988.
  • Léonide Moguy (director): Wisps of the border. 1940 (based on the novel L'empreinte du Dieu )
  • Curtis Bernhardt (Director): Women around Dr. Corday. 1949 ( The Doctor and the Girl ; based on the Roman Corps et Âme )

literature

  • William W. Bailey: Maxence van der Meersch. The man and his works . Dissertation, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 1961.
  • Bibliothèque Municipale (ed.): Van der Meersch et Roubaix . Roubaix 1982 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name in the Roubaix city library, December 17, 1982 to January 7, 1983).
  • Thérèse Bonte: Van der Meersch au plus près . Artois Presses Université, Arras 2011, ISBN 2-910663-90-6 .
  • Elie Bordes: Le drame spirituel dans l'œuvre de Maxence van der Meersch . Édition Georges, Tourcoing 1943.
  • André Combe: “La petite sainte Thérèse” by Maxence van der Meersch devant la critique et devant les textes . Éditions Saint-Paul, Paris 1950.
  • Adrien Jans: A la rencontre de Maxence van der Meersch. Novelist de la pitié et de l'amour . La Sixaine, Paris 1946.
  • Bernardin Léliaert: Maxence van der Meersch. Un grand romancier de "chez nous" . Éditions Édé, Lille 1945.
  • Mary Melliez: Maxence van der Meersch. Héraut du peuple . BoD, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-8106-1797-5 (also dissertation, Paris 2009).
  • David Michel: Lire Van der Meersch aujourd'hui (Recontre avec ...; Vol. 4). Bibliothèque Municipale, Roubaix 1983.
  • Christian Morzewski: "L'empreinte du Dieu" et "Invasion 14" by Maxence van der Meersch . Presses Université, Lille 2007, ISBN 2-908481-39-1 .
  • Paul Renard: Maxence van der Meersch. Auteur et témoin . Ravet-Anceau, Villeneuf-d'Ascq 2007, ISBN 978-2-914657-35-8 .
  • Paul Renard (Ed.): Maxence van der Meersch. "Écrire le Nord, Écrire le monde" . Édition Roman 20-50, Vimy 2001, ISBN 2-908481-19-7 .
  • Paul Renard (Ed.): Maxence van der Meersch. Écrivain engaged . Édition Roman 20-50, Vimy 2008, ISBN 978-2-908481-62-4 .
  • Robert Reus: Portrait morpho-psychologique de Maxence van der Meersch . Clairac, Aurillac 1952.
  • Société de Litterature du Nord (Ed.): Maxence van der Meersch. Romanciers du travail (Nord; vol. 15). SLN, Lille 1990.
  • Gottfried Benn: Doctor, Society and Human Life. To: Maxence van der Meersch, body and soul in: Collected works in eight volumes, ed. by Dieter Wellershoff, Volume 7: Vermischte Schriften, pp. 1742–1751, Limes Verlag, Wiesbaden 1968.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Novel about tobacco smuggling from Belgium to France.
  2. ^ Description of a workers' strike in Roubaix.
  3. ↑ Novel about the Christian working-class youth (CAJ).
  4. ^ Biography of the pastor of Ars.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Van der Meersch, Maxence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Roubaix
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1951
Place of death Le Touquet