Documents for "Miscellaneous European Literature: Biographies":

• Acominatus, Michael or Michael Choniates , c.1140-1220, Byzantine writer and metropolitan of Athens. Acominatus' speeches, poems, and letters give much information about medieval Athens, which he, a classicist, found barbarous and...

• Alepoudelis, Odysseus see Elytis, Odysseus.

• Amiel, Henri Frédéric 1821-81, Swiss critic. He was unsuccessful and unnoticed during his life, but the posthumous publication of his Journal intime (1883, tr. of augmented ed. 1936) aroused great interest. It is a document...

• Aneirin see Aneurin.

• Aneurin or Aneirin , fl. c.600, Welsh bard whose reputed writings are contained in a 13th-century manuscript, The Book of Aneirin. Included in this manuscript is Y Gododdin, an elegiac poem of about 1000 lines recording the defeat of an army of northern Britons by the Saxons. The poem is one of the oldest extant works of Welsh literature and contains probably the...

• Beets, Nicolaas 1814-1903, Dutch author. He translated Byron into Dutch and was fairly well known as a poet when his Camera Obscura (1839), published under the pseudonym Hildebrand, won great popularity. This series...

• Bijns, Anna 1494?-1575?, Flemish poet of Antwerp. Her three volumes (1528, 1548, 1567) of lyric verse place her among the foremost Dutch poets of her age. She excelled in robust satires passionately...

• Bilderdijk, Willem 1756-1831, Dutch poet. He tutored Louis Bonaparte in Dutch and later conducted a small private college at Leiden, where his pupils included Isaäc da Costa and Jacob van Lennep. One of the pioneers...

• Bitzius, Albert see Gotthelf, Jeremias.

• Bleimor see Calloc'h, Jean Pierre.

• Bosboom-Toussaint, Anna Louisa Geertruida 1812-86, Dutch novelist. She published her first novel, Almagro, in 1837. Her perceptive historical fiction was written in ornate and purposely archaic style. One of her chief works treated modern...

• Boutens, Pieter Cornelis 1870-1943, Dutch poet. His Verzen (1898) won him early praise. His impressionistic and mystical lyric verse was marked by rhythmic freedom. Boutens made extensive translations, particularly from Greek....

• Bredero, Gerbrand Adriaenszoon 1585-1618, Dutch dramatist and poet. He is considered the major Dutch poet of his generation, particularly for his spontaneous love sonnets. The first Dutch master of comedy, Bredero was an...

• Brod, Max 1884-1968, Israeli writer and composer, b. Prague. Brod is best known for his historical novels, written in German, notably The Redemption of Tycho Brahe (1916, tr. 1928) and Reubeni, Prince of the Jews (1925, tr. 1928). A lifelong friend of Franz Kafka, he wrote an excellent biography of Kafka (1937, tr. 1947) and also edited Kafka's writings. Brod's numerous other works include a biography of...

• Calloc'h, Jean Pierre 1888-1917, Breton poet. Important in the revival of Breton literature, he wrote in the Vannes dialect of Brittany. His lyrical verse displays a love for the sea and a fascination with death; his...

• Cammaerts, Émile 1878-1953, Belgian poet. In 1908 he settled in England, becoming a professor at the Univ. of London in 1933. His poetry of World War I, which appeared in French, was translated and collected in Belgian...

• Cavafy, Constantine pseud. of Konstantínos Pétrou Kaváfis , 1863-1933, Greek poet. He spent most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt. Although he published little work, he is regarded as one of the foremost modern Greek poets. Skeptical and nonconformist, he...

• Conscience, Hendrik 1812-83, Flemish novelist, a founder of modern Flemish literature. His many historical novels were romantic but powerful, in the tradition of Scott; outstanding is De Leuw van Vlaenderen (1831, tr....

• Costa i Llobera, Miguel 1854-1922, Catalonian poet and orator. In 1888 he was ordained a priest in Rome, where he developed a love of Latin literature. Costa i Llobera's works are serious and contemplative, and they...

• Costa, Isaäc da 1798-1860, Dutch poet and historian, b. Amsterdam, of an aristocratic Sephardic Jewish family. Deeply influenced by Bilderdijk, he entered (1822) the Reformed Church, and much of his poetry is...

• Coster, Charles de see De Coster, Charles.

• Couperus, Louis Marie Anne 1863-1923, Dutch novelist. In his early works he emphasized with graceful irony the determining forces of human history and environment; this fatalism characterizes all his novels. Couperus is...

• Crommelynck, Fernand 1885?-1970, Belgian dramatist, b. Brussels. Crommelynck's first great success was a tragic farce about jealousy, Le Cocu magnifique (1921, tr. The Magnificent Cuckold, 1966). Other plays that reveal...

• Dürrenmatt, Friedrich 1921-90, Swiss playwright and novelist. Dürrenmatt's writings depict a world both comic and grotesque. As a young German-speaking playwright in Switzerland, he was witness to the rise of fascism...

• Da Costa, Uriel see Acosta, Uriel.

• De Coster, Charles Théodore Henri 1827-79, Belgian author, b. Munich. His collected legends from Flemish folklore (1857), written in old French style, gained him note as a medievalist. His Contes brabançons (1861) was followed...

• Deken, Agatha see Wolff, Elisabeth (Bekker).

• Dekker, Eduard Douwes pseud. Multatuli , 1820-87, Dutch novelist. His experiences in the Dutch colonial service in Java (1838-57) made him an ardent advocate of reform in colonial administration and were the inspiration of Max Havelaar (1860, tr. 1868, 1927), which satirized the grasping spirit, the religion, morals, and government of the Dutch bourgeoisie. His unsparing criticism had tremendous effect in a Holland that had grown...

• Deyssel, Lodewijk van pseud. of Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm, 1864-1952, Dutch novelist, critic, and essayist. He was editor of De Nieuwe Gids [the new guide], the monthly organ of the progressive literary...

• Dukes, Leopold 1810-91, Hungarian Hebrew scholar. He made a collection of rabbinical proverbs and wrote on the history of Jewish literature, notably of Hebrew poetry in the Middle Ages. He also translated into...

• Eeden, Frederik van 1860-1932, Dutch novelist and poet, a practicing physician. He founded a cooperative farm colony (1898). His work is pervaded by deep mysticism; best known is the novel trilogy De kleine Johannes...

• Elytis, Odysseus pseud. of Odysseus Alepoudelis , 1911-96, Greek poet, b. Iraklion, Crete. Strongly influenced by surrealism , especially the works of Paul Éluard , in the 1930s he began publishing individualistic and sensuous lyric poetry replete with imagery of the Aegean Islands. He fought with the antifascist resistance in World War II; after the war, his...

• Feith, Rhijnvis 1753-1824, Dutch romantic poet, novelist, and dramatist. His principal works are the long poem on eternity Het Graf (1792) and the sentimental novel Julia (1783), which resembles Goethe's Werther....

• Gezelle, Guido 1830-99, Flemish poet, b. Bruges, a Roman Catholic priest. A forerunner of the Flemish literary revival, he was the leading poet of the Flemings. In six volumes of lyrics, especially Rijmsnoer [necklace...

• Ghelderode, Michel de 1898-1962, Belgian dramatist. He wrote in French and is noted for his colorful and avant-garde plays. He lived in obscurity until 1949, when he gained prominence with the production of Fastes d'enfer (1929). His vast output reveals his use of many sources; Barabbas (1928), Mademoiselle Jaïre (1934), and Marie la misérable (1952) draw on biblical themes or medieval morality plays. The influences of Maeterlinck and Flemish painters, of puppet theater and commedia dell'arte, of Rabelais and Edgar Allan Poe, are evident...

• Gorter, Herman 1864-1927, Dutch poet. He wrote two notable long poems, Mei (1889) and Pan (1912). A Marxian socialist, Gorter was a well-known political journalist.

• Gotthelf, Jeremias 1797-1854, Swiss writer and clergyman. His real name was Albert Bitzius; his pen name is that of the hero of his autobiographical Bauernspiegel (1837). Gotthelf, working as Protestant pastor in Bern canton, took an active interest in the education and economic improvement of the poverty-stricken rural population. His 38 volumes of prose...

• Hadewijch fl. early 13th cent., Dutch mystical poet, a nun. Her works, beautiful lyrics on the love of God and a number of letters in rhyme and visions in prose, are a monument both of early Dutch...

• Haren, Willem van 1710-68, Dutch poet, b. Friesland, of a noble family. His chief work is an epic poem, Friso (1741). His brother, Onno Zwier van Haren, 1713-79, also a poet, wrote patriotic verse, notably a series...

• Heijermans, Herman 1864-1924, Dutch dramatist. Much of his work treated life among the Dutch Jews. His dramas include Op Hoop van Zegen (1900, tr. The Good Hope, 1928).

• Heinsius, Daniel 1580-1655, Dutch classicist. One of the most famous Renaissance scholars, he edited many Latin works, composed fine Latin poetry, and wrote in Dutch as well. His son Nikolaas Heinsius, 1620-81, rivaled...

• Hooft, Pieter Corneliszoon 1581-1647, Dutch historian, poet, and dramatist. His great work was a history of the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain, Nederlandsche Historien (1628-47). Hooft was also a lyric poet of the...

• Hughes, John Ceiriog 1832-87, Welsh lyric poet. By restoring simplicity of diction and emotional sincerity, he did for Welsh poetry what Wordsworth and Coleridge did for English poetry. Many of his songs were written...

• Huygens, Constantijn 1596-1687, Dutch humanist and poet, b. The Hague; father of Christiaan Huygens. He was broadly educated in languages, law, and social protocol to follow a public career. From 1625 he was secretary...

• Kadare, Ismail 1936-, Albanian novelist and poet, widely regarded as his country's most important contemporary writer, b. Gjirokastër, studied Univ. of Tiranë, Gorky Institute of World Literature, Moscow. He...

• Kaváfis, Konstantínos Pétrou see Cavafy, Constantine.

• Kazantzakis, Nikos 1883?-1957, Greek writer, b. Crete. After obtaining a law degree he studied philosophy under Henri Bergson in Paris and traveled widely in Europe and Asia. Attracted to Communism early in life, he grew disillusioned with revolutionary materialism and rationalism. As the Greek minister of public welfare...

• Keller, Gottfried 1819-90, Swiss novelist, poet, and short-story writer. His vital, realistic, and purposeful fiction gives him a high place among 19th-century authors. Chief among his works is the "educational" ...

• Kloos, Willem 1859-1938, Dutch poet and critic. In 1885 he founded the progressive literary journal De Nieuwe Gids [the new guide]. His personal anger against prevailing modes of literary expression is vented in the sonnets in Verzen (1894), notable for the fresh imagery and metaphor they introduced to Dutch poetry. Unlike some of his literary associates, Kloos never developed social concerns and remained primarily a literary...

• Konrad, George 1933-, Hungarian novelist. Konrad's first novel, The Case Worker (1969; tr. 1974), was based on his experiences as a children's social worker for the state. In this and other writings he treats the social and spiritual problems of Eastern European life under...

• Lateur, Frank see Streuvels, Stijn.

• Lemonnier, Camille 1844-1913, Belgian novelist and art critic. After abandoning law, Lemonnier published his first work, Salon de Bruxelles (1863), a collection of art essays. His novels, including his masterpiece,...

• Lennep, Jacob van 1802-68, Dutch writer. He was state's attorney (1852) and served in the legislature (1853-56). He is best known for his historical novels influenced by Walter Scott, which include The Adopted Son...

• Madách, Imré 1823-64, Hungarian poet and dramatist. Madách is best known for his dramatic epic, The Tragedy of Man (1861, tr. 1908), which relates the history of mankind in somber, philosophical terms....

• Maerlant, Jacob van c.1235-c.1300, Flemish poet, earliest important figure of Dutch literature. He wrote lyric poems and chivalric verse romances after the French as well as long didactic poems, chief of which is Spiegel...

• Maragall i Gorina, Joan 1860-1911, Catalonian poet and essayist. For many years he wrote articles and essays for the influential newspaper Diario de Barcelona [Barcelona daily]. Maragall i Gorina is noted for the serenity and spontaneity of his poetry. Because of his emphasis on external reality, he is regarded by many critics as the first Catalonian...

• Mulisch, Harry 1927-, Dutch writer. In the 1960s Mulisch became a prominent member of Amsterdam's new left. He is extremely prolific and has written fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, much of it not yet translated...

• Multatuli see Dekker, Eduard Douwes.

• Noot, Jan van der b. 1539 or 1540, d. 1595?, Flemish poet. He wrote sonnets, odes, and other pieces in imitation of Petrarch and especially of Ronsard.

• Oisin see Ossian.

• Ossian or Oisin , legendary Gaelic poet, supposedly the son of Finn mac Cumhail , hero of a cycle of tales and poems that place his deeds of valor in the 3d cent. AD These traditional tales were preserved in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands, with Ossian as the bard who...

• Palamas, Kostes 1859-1943, Greek poet. He studied at the Univ. of Athens of which he later was secretary for many years. Except in his early work, he wrote in demotic or vernacular Greek and translated into this...

• Picard, Edmond 1836-1924, Belgian jurist and author. A brilliant lawyer, he was at various times president of the Belgian bar association and a member of the supreme court. He wrote two works that explore the...

• Potgieter, Everhardus Johannes 1808-75, Dutch critic, essayist, and poet. He was the first editor (1837-65) of and a major contributor to De Gids, the most influential Dutch literary periodical of its era. In opposition to romanticism...

• Ramuz, Charles Ferdinand 1878-1947, Swiss novelist. His works deal with the simple people of his native canton of Vaud. Among his major novels are Le Règne de l'esprit malin (1917; tr. The Region of the Evil One,...

• Rangabe, Alexandros Rizos 1810-92, Greek scholar, author, and diplomat, b. Constantinople. After 1831 he held government posts at Athens, notably the ministry of education (1833), and he later served as a diplomat in...

• Rhangavis, Alexandros Rizos see Rangabe.

• Ritsos, Yannis 1909-90, Greek poet. One of modern Greece's most widely translated poets, Ritsos moved from an early concern with classical themes and style to a more deeply personal lyricism. His writing reflects...

• Robbers, Herman 1868-1937, Dutch novelist. A representative of descriptive realism, he wrote De Roman van een Gezin (1909-10; tr. The Fortunes of a Household, 1924).

• Rodenbach, Georges 1855-98, Belgian symbolist poet and novelist. Living in Paris from 1887, he wrote about Flemish life. His works include the poems Le Foyer et les champs (1877), La Jeunesse blanche (1886), and...

• Roland Holst, Henriëtte (van der Schalk) 1869-1952, Dutch writer. Her early Sonnets and Poems Written in Terza Rima (1895) won praise for outstanding lyric quality. Roland Holst became an active socialist and communist and wrote vigorous biographies of Rousseau (1912), Garibaldi (1920), Leo Tolstoy (1930), and...

• Sagarra, Josep Maria de (Josep Maria de Sagarra i Castellarnau) , 1894-1961, Catalonian poet, novelist, and playwright. He published his first poems at the age of 12 and later, on the advice of his mentors Miquel Costa i...

• Seferis, George (Giorgos Sefiriades), 1900-1971, Greek poet. Educated at the Univ. of Paris, he returned to Greece, where he had a distinguished career as a diplomat, including service as ambassador to the United...

• Sefiriades, Giorgos see Seferis, George.

• Sikelianos, Angelos 1884-1951, Greek poet and playwright. One of Greece's most important 20th-century lyric poets, he emphasized national history, religious symbolism, and universal harmony in poems such as "The Light-Shadowed,"...

• Simenon, Georges 1903-89, Belgian novelist. One of the most prolific of modern authors, he is best known for the detective stories featuring Inspector Maigret. He also wrote more than a hundred pyschological...

• Spieghel, Hendrick Laurenszoon 1549-1612, Dutch poet. In his cycle of spiritual songs Lieden Op't Vader Ons (modern ed. 1957), he was among the first to successfully adapt the iambic rhythms of French Renaissance verse and melody...

• Spitteler, Carl Friedrich Georg 1845-1924, Swiss poet, whose pseudonym was Carl Felix Tandem. He was awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature. His chief works include the epics Prometheus und Epimetheus (1881, tr. 1931) and Olympischer Frühling [Olympian spring] (2 vol., 1900-1906; revised version, 1910). The latter, set among the Greek gods, is an original and complex allegory of the necessity for ethics in the modern world. His other...

• Spyri, Johanna 1827-1901, Swiss author. Her many stories of child life in Switzerland include Heidi (1880; tr. 1884), a classic among children's books. Heidi, the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather...

• Steffen, Albert 1884-1963, Swiss novelist, poet, and playwright, who wrote in German. His works are concerned with the martyrdom and redemption of Christ. To Steffen the solution to social ills lay in the...

• Streuvels, Stijn pseud. of Frank Lateur , 1871-1969, Flemish novelist and short-story writer; nephew of Guido Gezelle. Streuvels's works are realistic, moving portrayals of everyday life. His early novels show the influence of Russian...

• Szymborska, Wisława 1923-, Polish poet, b. Bnin, studied Jagiellonian Univ., Kraków (1945-48). Although highly acclaimed in her homeland, Szymborska was largely unknown in the West until she won the Nobel Prize in...

• Töpffer, Rodolphe 1799-1846, Swiss novelist, b. Geneva. His humorous tales and novels of Swiss life were often illustrated with his own apposite drawings. Töpffer's travelogues of fanciful voyages through the Alps,...

• Taliesin or Taliessin , 6th cent.?, Welsh bard, whose Book of Taliesin is one of the great Welsh poetic works. The book exists only in a 13th-century form, but tradition puts Taliesin in the 6th cent., as a contemporary of the battles his poems celebrate. One theory...

• Timmermans, Felix 1886-1947, Flemish novelist. Among his most successful works are Pallieter (1916, tr. 1924), the story of a lusty Fleming of gigantic appetites, and Pieter Brueghel (1928, tr. Droll Peter, 1930),...

• Tollens, Hendrik Franciscus 1780-1856, Dutch poet. Among the leading Dutch romantics, he was popular for his homely and sincere patriotic verse. His principal work (1819) was an account of the Barentz expedition (1596-97),...

• Vörösmarty, Mihály 1800-1855, Hungarian poet. Considered one of the greatest Hungarian poets, he created a new poetic language and combined the characteristics of the national and classical schools in his work. He...

• Verhaeren, Émile 1855-1916, Belgian poet and critic, a Fleming who wrote in French. His dominant passion for social reform found expression successively in a disgust with mankind, as in the naturalistic verse of Les...

• Vermeylen, August 1872-1945, Flemish writer and critic. Active in the Flemish literary revival, he was the chief founder (1893) of the journal Van Nu en Straks [today and tomorrow]. He was professor of literature and of art history at the Univ. of Brussels (1901-23), and in 1930 he was named rector of the Flemish Univ. of Ghent. In addition to many works...

• Verwey, Albert 1865-1937, Dutch poet. His early verse was melodious, spontaneous, and evocative and showed the influence of Wordsworth; later works became increasingly dissonant and complex. Verwey came to...

• Vestdijk, Simon 1898-1971, Dutch writer. His nearly 100 books include 38 novels, over 20 volumes of poetry, and works on astrology, religion, and music. One of his best-known works, The Garden Where the Brass Band Played (1950, tr. 1965) is an eight-volume treatment of the life of Anton Wachter. Vestdijk was known for his psychoanalytical approach and his depiction of empty provincial lifestyles and tragic love...

• Vondel, Joost van den 1587-1679, Dutch poet and dramatist, b. Cologne. He is generally considered the greatest Dutch writer. During the emergence of the Dutch nation Vondel was the national poet; his occasional verse...

• Woestijne, Karel van de 1878-1929, Flemish symbolist poet and novelist. He also had some reputation as a painter. He worked for a time as journalist and from 1919 was professor of Dutch literature at the Univ. of Ghent...

• Wolff, Elisabeth (Bekker) 1738-1804, Dutch novelist. She wrote satirical articles and poems, but she is most famous for the epistolary novels she wrote in collaboration with Agatha Deken (1741-1804). These sentimental...

• Wyss, Johann David 1743-1818, Swiss author. His Swiss Family Robinson (1813, tr. 1814), an internationally popular classic for children, relates the adventures of a shipwrecked family. It is based on Robinson Crusoe....