Paul Van Ostaijen, the Poet
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1961 Paul van Ostaijen, the poet Hidde Van Ameyden van Duym The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Van Ameyden van Duym, Hidde, "Paul van Ostaijen, the poet" (1961). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3187. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3187 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PAUL VA* OGTAIJEB, THE POET by HIDDB VA* AKEYDB* VA* DOB* B.A. yOWTABA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1997 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY 1 9 6 1 Approved by; F Dean, Graduate School 3 » ,96, Date UMI Number EP35849 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Diss^tation Publishing UMI EP35849 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest' ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 TABLE OP CONTENTS Foreword 1 Biography 4 Mueic H all 24 Hit llimsl 39 fmM at SM£ ma ixtax., qssmn&ma Ciiz 93 FosthufiBous Poem# 8 9 summary 110 L le t of %ork# C ited 111 FCBEWORD The introduction of a new acquaintance can be made in two ways: either by providing extensive proof that for years one has missed intellectual pearls which apply to this and that particular problem which one likes to hear discussed, or by providing enough m aterial to enable the acquaintance's merits to stand by themselves ... if he has them; the latter consideration is superfluous since we assume that the hostess would not bother without that prerequisite. In this essay on Paul van Ostaijen, the second approach has been used. The first chapter tries to show briefly what kind of period, what kind of man, and what kind of thoughts we are dealing with. The period of 1915-1928, the period during which van Ostaijen wrote, is characterized by great cultural and political activity. On the one hand we find the development of fauvism, futurism, dadaism, expressionism, Suprematism, neoplasticism and vorticism, all of which are 1 2 movement# ehlch applied t© every field ©f artietie création, from painting to poetry and architecture, and cwi the other hand we find World War I, the Huaalan Revolution, laaiie* and Plamimgantlam, The men van Ootaijen *a# a man of great intelligence and high oenaltivenoaa. lot only did he have the premise# of every one of those activities at his fingertips, but be kept exhorting himself and his contemporarie# on the basis of standards which thee# movements had provided. He expressed his thoughts in poetry, essays, mani festoes , short stories and satir es, each equally worthy of a tte n tio n # The four following chapters discuss the four main periods into which van Ostaijen*# poetry can be divided. Koch chapter gives a survey successively of content, form and outlook m life, followed by excerpts from van Ostaijen's literary theory and selected translations of the poetry of the period con ce rn e d . The reader may feel that he is spending too much atten tion to a local scene which is not of immediate interest to him, but he w ill find that van Ostaijen* s art goes beyond the lo c a l. Unfortunately, it was not possible to obtain more mate rial on aul van Ostaijen than the list of cited works indi cates $ it must be observed that da Hoover* s Paul van Ostaijen is a source of dubious quality which was only consulted for 3 biographical Informâticm. A look at the bibliographie® on van 0 #taijen reveal® that the only translation of hi® work ha® been made into French by 2 . Sehoonhoven in a work c a lle d J&BLLaUM&ihUadjjWU aLEL&iriMllWglIjLiU) JB h» f.(MllUklU# (*nt~ »erp, 1951)• BlOORAMBr Leopold Aodr*## v#B *o# bora February 22, 1 8 9, 6 la Aat»#rp* H# *a# tb# Imot child of # family of oovoa, Th# oixth child woo Coaotoat who * 0 # mime year# old whom Fail am# bora. Dooplt# hi# early death la 193# Paul eurvived a ll hi# other brothers aad sifters except Ceaetaat who died a few mmathe after him* Coast eat oared much for Paul aad helped him several times; he helped him finaaelally whea Paul was ill with tuberculosis! Paul's father ess a rich plumber who had retired* He bad mot much faith in Paul, of whom be said that he was "not even fit to be office boy because of his bed handwriting. ^ A, de hoover, faul vpa Oateiian (Bussum, I 9 6O ), p . 22# ^ Q* Bergers, latreductlon to p# van Ostaijen*# Music gall (Den Baag, 1*99), p. I 6 . 5 After having attended three high echoola, he ended up in the Koninklijk Athenaeum at Antwerp* The only subject in which he was good was religion^ but hie extra-curricular Intereete Included German and French literature, painting ana the Flemish movement.3 3 Since van eteijen was very active in the Flemish movemnt it w ill be useful to give a abort survey. In the second half of the nineteenth century the Flemish started objecting to the domination of the Walloons but the electoral system pre vented the breaking of the political power of this French- speaking bourgeoisie. This movement called ‘’Flamingantism** did achieve in 1873 that some laws were established concerning the use of the Flemish language in eourtroxm# end public lews, but it reached a deadlock because clerical and anti-clerical elements could not come to an agreement. The movement did have a social ideal in that it considered education of the people necessary for the development of Flanders but there is no Immediate relationship between Flamingantism and socialism. Throu# the cooperation with Holland in the area of literature and philology, the literary element was predominant. In 1910 some of the differences were overcome and a united party was formed under a Catholic, a Liberal and a Socialist, when the Germans Invaded Belgium, the Flamingants who had emphasised their Germanic character were immediately accused of collabo ration by the Walloons. The Flamingants were divided; some wanted an alliance with Holland, some wanted an independent state of Flanders, some a federal Belgium and some an alliance with Germany, ie find these views expressed in such magasines as Jona Vlamderea, which had pan-Germanic aspirations, p@ Ylaamae Fmst, which was not anti-Belgian but wanted an independent Flanders, and Dg Ylaamsc which was run by Flemish refugees in Holland. The latter coined the word "acti vism" after analogy with the Swedish movement which sympathised with the Germans, but it also published anti-German poetry. When it turned out that the Walloons were rather contemptuous of the Flemish language in the army, and especially after the King bad declared that "the Flamingants had no other cmre then the liberation of the territory,* many of the sceptic Flamin gants became aetivistie, i.e. tried for help from Germany. The Germans, vho wanted fleet bases on the Belgian coast, were willing to negotiate. They separated the Flemish and the Wal loons in concentration camps and later split the Belgian Ministry of /rts and Sciences in a Flemish and a Walloon department; also the occupied part of Flanders was enabled to 6 In 1912 the family van Ostaijen was living in the coun try. In the neighboring village lived the composer Jef van Hoof who formed the center of a group of artiste, journalists and Flamingants. Paul m s introduced to this circle end met among others F rits Francken, contributor to the magazine Carolus y and Rene Victor, who later helped him with the typo- gzaphy of Occupied City.* In 1913 Paul quit school. The next year ho became clerk at the Antwerp townhall. He used hie s;:«rc time to improve his French end Gera&n and kept in touch with both cultures through the Mercure de Prance &rd the Weisee Blttf^y.^ He saw the first silent films brought out by Nor disk Film Co., in which As ta Nielsen starred. Vm O sta ije n called a section of Occupied Citv after her. He also visited the «tintergarten," a music hall which formed the theme of his first collection of poems, f^ere also he met the painter Florls despers who played cello in the orchestra. Paul was very interested in painting, with which he became acquaint- cont. ) create a council of representatives but it bed no legislative power. The collaboration soon turned out to be dicopoointing especially when it was found out that the Ger mans would make peace with a united Belgium. As a whole Pla- mingantism was a boost to Flemish intellectual life and it created pacifistic and humanitarian ideals in politics as well as literature; the activists saw the Flemish question as a question of International politics and the struggle for Flanders was stmiggle for a better world (summary from A.W.