Camille Lemonnier
Encyclopedia
Antoine Louis Camille Lemonnier (24 March 1844 – 13 June 1913) was a Belgian
writer
, poet
and journalist. He was a member of the Symbolist La Jeune Belgique
group, but his best known works are realist
. His first work was Salon de Bruxelles (1863), a collection of art
criticism. His best known novel is Un Mâle (1881).
.
He studied law
, and then took a clerkship in a government office, which he resigned after three years. Lemonnier inherited Flemish blood from both parents, and with it the animal force and pictorial energy of the Flemish temperament. He published a Salon de Bruxelles in 1863, and again in 1866. His early friendships were chiefly with artists; and he wrote art criticisms with recognized discernment. In 1868 he was a founding member of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
, an avant-gardist group whose ideals he championed. Taking a house in the hills near Namur
, he devoted himself to sport, and developed the intimate sympathy with nature which informs his best work. Nos Flamands (1869) and Croquis d'automne (1870) date from this time. Paris-Berlin (1870), a pamphlet pleading the cause of France
, and full of the author's horror of war, had a great success.
His capacity as a novelist, in the fresh, humorous description of peasant life, was revealed in Un Coin de village (1879). In Un Mâle (1881) he achieved a different kind of success. It deals with the arnours of a poacher and a farmer's daughter, with the forest as a background. Cachaprès, the poacher, seems the very embodiment of the wild life around him. The rejection of Un Mâle by the judges for the quinquennial prize of literature in 1883 made Lemonnier the centre of a school, inaugurated at a banquet given in his honour on 27 May 1883. Le Mon (1882), which describes the remorse of two peasants for a murder they have committed, provides a vivid representation of terror. It was remodelled as a tragedy in five acts (1899) by its author. Ceux de la glèbe (1889), dedicated to the "children of the soil", was written in 1885.
He turned aside from local subjects for some time to produce a series of psychological novels, books of art criticism, etc., of considerable value, but assimilating more closely to French contemporary literature. The most striking of his later novels include Happe-chair (1886), often compared with Zola
's Germinal, L'Arche, journal d'une maman (1894) and Le Vent dans les moulins (1901), which returns to Flemish subjects.
In 1888 Lemonnier was prosecuted in Paris for offending against public morals by a story in Gil Blas
, and was condemned to a fine. In a later prosecution at Brussels he was defended by Edmond Picard, and acquitted; and he was arraigned for a third time, at Bruges
, for his Homme en amour, but again acquitted. He represented his own case in Les Deux consciences (1902). L'Ile vierge (1897) was the first of a trilogy to be called La Légende de Ia vie, which was to trace, under the fortunes of the hero, the pilgrimage of man through sorrow and sacrifice to the conception of the divinity within him. In Adam et Eve (1899) and Au Coeur fra'is de la forêt (1900), he preached the return to nature as the salvation not only of the individual but of the community. Among his other more important works are G. Courbet, et ses œuvres (1878); L'Histoire des Beaux-Arts en Belgique 1830-1887 (1887); En Allemagne (1888), dealing especially with the Pinakothek at Munich; La Belgique (1888), an elaborate descriptive work with many illustrations; La Vie belge (1905); and Alfred Stevens et son œuvre (1906).
Lemonnier spent much time in Paris
, and was one of the early contributors to the Mercure de France
. He began to write at a time when Belgian letters lacked style; and with much toil, and some initial extravagances, he created a medium for the expression of his ideas. He explained something of the process in a preface contributed to Gustave Abel's Labeur de la prose (1902). His prose is magnificent and sonorous, but abounds in neologisms and strange metaphors.
Rue Cammille Lemonnier/Camille Lemonnierstraat http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=rue+camille+lemonnier,+brussels,+belgium&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title, in western Ixelles, is named in his honor.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and journalist. He was a member of the Symbolist La Jeune Belgique
La Jeune Belgique
La Jeune Belgique was a belgian literary society and movement that published a French-language literary review La Jeune Belgique between 1881 and 1897. The society was founded by the Belgian poet Max Waller...
group, but his best known works are realist
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
. His first work was Salon de Bruxelles (1863), a collection of art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
criticism. His best known novel is Un Mâle (1881).
Biography
Lemonnier was born in Ixelles, BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
He studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, and then took a clerkship in a government office, which he resigned after three years. Lemonnier inherited Flemish blood from both parents, and with it the animal force and pictorial energy of the Flemish temperament. He published a Salon de Bruxelles in 1863, and again in 1866. His early friendships were chiefly with artists; and he wrote art criticisms with recognized discernment. In 1868 he was a founding member of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
Société Libre des Beaux-Arts
The Société Libre des Beaux-Arts was an organization formed in 1868 by Belgian artists to react against academicism and to advance Realist painting and artistic freedom. Based in Brussels, the society was active until 1876, by which time the aesthetic values it espoused had infiltrated the...
, an avant-gardist group whose ideals he championed. Taking a house in the hills near Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
, he devoted himself to sport, and developed the intimate sympathy with nature which informs his best work. Nos Flamands (1869) and Croquis d'automne (1870) date from this time. Paris-Berlin (1870), a pamphlet pleading the cause of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and full of the author's horror of war, had a great success.
His capacity as a novelist, in the fresh, humorous description of peasant life, was revealed in Un Coin de village (1879). In Un Mâle (1881) he achieved a different kind of success. It deals with the arnours of a poacher and a farmer's daughter, with the forest as a background. Cachaprès, the poacher, seems the very embodiment of the wild life around him. The rejection of Un Mâle by the judges for the quinquennial prize of literature in 1883 made Lemonnier the centre of a school, inaugurated at a banquet given in his honour on 27 May 1883. Le Mon (1882), which describes the remorse of two peasants for a murder they have committed, provides a vivid representation of terror. It was remodelled as a tragedy in five acts (1899) by its author. Ceux de la glèbe (1889), dedicated to the "children of the soil", was written in 1885.
He turned aside from local subjects for some time to produce a series of psychological novels, books of art criticism, etc., of considerable value, but assimilating more closely to French contemporary literature. The most striking of his later novels include Happe-chair (1886), often compared with Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
's Germinal, L'Arche, journal d'une maman (1894) and Le Vent dans les moulins (1901), which returns to Flemish subjects.
In 1888 Lemonnier was prosecuted in Paris for offending against public morals by a story in Gil Blas
Gil Blas (periodical)
Gil Blas was a Parisian literary periodical founded by Augustin-Alexandre Dumont in November 1879. It was in publication until 1914...
, and was condemned to a fine. In a later prosecution at Brussels he was defended by Edmond Picard, and acquitted; and he was arraigned for a third time, at Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, for his Homme en amour, but again acquitted. He represented his own case in Les Deux consciences (1902). L'Ile vierge (1897) was the first of a trilogy to be called La Légende de Ia vie, which was to trace, under the fortunes of the hero, the pilgrimage of man through sorrow and sacrifice to the conception of the divinity within him. In Adam et Eve (1899) and Au Coeur fra'is de la forêt (1900), he preached the return to nature as the salvation not only of the individual but of the community. Among his other more important works are G. Courbet, et ses œuvres (1878); L'Histoire des Beaux-Arts en Belgique 1830-1887 (1887); En Allemagne (1888), dealing especially with the Pinakothek at Munich; La Belgique (1888), an elaborate descriptive work with many illustrations; La Vie belge (1905); and Alfred Stevens et son œuvre (1906).
Lemonnier spent much time in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and was one of the early contributors to the Mercure de France
Mercure de France
The Mercure de France was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group....
. He began to write at a time when Belgian letters lacked style; and with much toil, and some initial extravagances, he created a medium for the expression of his ideas. He explained something of the process in a preface contributed to Gustave Abel's Labeur de la prose (1902). His prose is magnificent and sonorous, but abounds in neologisms and strange metaphors.
Rue Cammille Lemonnier/Camille Lemonnierstraat http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=rue+camille+lemonnier,+brussels,+belgium&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title, in western Ixelles, is named in his honor.
Works
- Salon de Bruxelles (1863)
- Nos Flamands (1869)
- Croquis d'automne (1870)
- Paris-Berlin (1870)
- G. Courbet, et ses œuvres (1878)
- Un Coin de village (1879)
- Un Mâle (1881)
- Le Mon (1882)
- L'Hystérique (1885)
- Happe-chair (1886)
- L'Histoire des Beaux-Arts en Belgique 1830-1887 (1887)
- En Allemagne (1888)
- La Belgique (1888)
- Ceux de la glèbe (1889)
- Le Possédé (1890)
- La fin des bourgeois (1892)
- L'Arche, journal d'une maman (1894)
- La Faute de Mme Charvet (1895)
- L'Ile vierge (1897)
- L'Homme en amour (1897)
- Adam et Eve (1899)
- Au Coeur fra'is de la forêt (1900)
- Le Vent dans les moulins (1901)
- Le Petit Homme de Dieu (1902)
- Comme va le ruisseau (1903)
- Alfred Stevens et son œuvre (1906)