Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht (Louis Paul) Boon (15 March 1912, in Aalst – 10 May 1979, in Erembodegem) was a Belgian writer of novels, poetry, pornography, columns and art criticism in Flemish. He was also a painter. He is best known for the novels ''My Little War'' (1947), the diptych ''Chapel Road'' (1953) / ''Summer in Termuren'' (1956), ''Menuet'' (1955) and ''Pieter Daens'' (1971).

Biography

He was born in 1912 as Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht Boon in Aalst,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, the oldest son in a working-class family. Although he was still very young during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, memories of a German soldier shooting a prisoner would end up in later autobiographical work. Boon left school at age 16 to work for his father as a car painter. He was expelled from school for possession of forbidden books. During evenings and weekends he studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon had to abandon his studies due to lack of funds. In 1936 he married Jeanneke De Wolf. Three years later, their son Jo was born.

World War II

In September 1939, Boon was mobilised and stationed as a soldier in Gooik and Tessenderlo. Boon was moved to Veldwezelt at the outbreak of World War II in May 1940 in order to defend the Albert Canal. However, he was captured as a prisoner of war on the first day and eventually sent home, after a few weeks in a prisoner camp. His experiences during the War and mostly the Occupation are the subject of Boon's fourth book, '' My Little War'' (1947). After writing an unpublished novel, Boon's official debut came in 1942 with ''De voorstad groeit'' (''The suburb grows''). It was awarded the Leo J. Krynprijs award at the recommendation of

Willem Elsschot Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder (7 May 1882 – 31 May 1960) was a Belgian writer and poet who wrote under the pseudonym Willem Elsschot (). One of the most prominent Flemish authors, his most famous work, ''Cheese'' (1933) is the most translated F ...

. His next novel was loosely based on the life of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

, ''Abel Gholarts'' (1944, not available in translation).

After World War II

Boon started working as a journalist for the communist dailies ''De Rode Vaan'' (1945–1946), ''Front'' (1946–1947) and ''De Vlaamse Gids'' (1948). Together with Maurice Roggeman, he also made a comic strip, ''Proleetje & Fantast'', for ''De Rode Vaan'', for which he wrote storylines. Later he contributed to the newspaper ''Vooruit'' with which he established himself as a

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

. In subsequent years, Boon continued to combine newspaper and literary work, and even added painting and sculpture to his activities. His literary output ranges from short prose, longer experimental novels, one man magazines, documentary and historical novels, poetry, erotic works and fairy tales. Boon died in his home in Erembodegem in 1979 at the age of 67.

My Little War

His experiences during World War II and the Occupation are the subject of Boon's fourth book, '' My Little War'' (1947, translation 2010 by Paul Vincent,

Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...

). With this title Boon emerged for the first time as an important innovator of the novel. Rather than containing one story, "My Little War" contains over thirty loosely interrelated chapters, each containing a story that can be read as an independent piece. Most stories describe the difficult circumstances of life during the Occupation, such as finding food and fuel to warm the house, some deal with the deteriorating sexual mores, and some treat more direct war experiences such as bombings. Yet the overarching structure, though well hidden, makes for a coherent whole as well. The stories are interspersed with numerous raw fragments about equally raw incidents during the Occupation as the short stories: rape, theft, treason, humiliation. Boon admitted that the work of

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

provided the inspiration for this literary device. In this book, the term 'enemy' by no means signifies Germans exclusively, even though one story tells of the extermination of a Jewish girl and another of a camp prisoner's experiences. People are just as likely, if not more, to be robbed of food, money, or even their spouse's fidelity by their neighbours as they are by the Germans.

Chapel Road

In 1953 he published the work that now stands as his greatest masterpiece, '' Chapel Road'' (''De Kapellekensbaan'', translated by Adrienne Dixon), which he began to write as early as 1943. Its dazzling construction combines several narrative threads, including an almost postmodern one where the writer and his friends discuss how the story should develop further. Another one is an extensive reworking of the most classic medieval work in the Dutch language, the twelfth-century story of

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

the fox. There are several references to ''Chapel Road'' in Boon's lengthy 1956 novel ''Zomer te Ter-muren'' (''Summer in Termuren''), which picks up where the earlier novel left off.

Legacy

Boon's literary legacy is a versatile, ranging from journalistic pieces on Belgian politics and society to erotic novelas. In historical novels such as ''De Bende van Jan de Lichte'', ''De zoon van Jan de Lichte'', ''De Zwarte Hand'', and ''Daens'', he depicted the oppression of the working class in 18th century

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

; in his controversial ''Geuzenboek'', he wrote about the Spanish domination of the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

in the 16th century. Nearly all of Boon's work was infused by his profound commitment to

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

; in

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

, modernistic works such as ''Vergeten straat'', Boon projected an ideal society but at the same time shared his doubts as to whether human nature could achieve

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

Nobel Prize

Boon was thought to have been shortlisted for a

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

in the late 1970s, and even received an invitation to appear at the Swedish Embassy, probably to be told that the Prize had been awarded to him. The day before the appointment he died at his writing table of a heart attack. Very little of his writing has been translated into English, but ''De Kapellekensbaan'' and ''Zomer in Ter-Muren'' are both available in English translation from

as ''Chapel Road'' and ''Summer in Termuren'', and Paul Vincent's translation of ''Mijn kleine oorlog'' (as ''My Little War'') was published by Dalkey in 2009.

Selected bibliography

Translated in English

* My Little War (1946), translated by Paul Vincent, Dalkey Archive Press * Chapel Road (1953), translated by Adrienne Dixon, Dalkey Archive Press * Summer in Termuren (1956), translated by Paul Vincent, Dalkey Archive Press

Other selected works, not translated in English

* De voorstad groeit (1942), novel * Abel Gholaerts (1944), novel * Vergeten straat (1946), novel * Boontje's reservaat (1954-1957), one-man magazine with documentary reports, stories, memories and essays * Menuet (1955), novella * De kleine Eva uit de Kromme Bijlstraat (1956), long-form, narrative poem. Awarded the Henriette Roland Holst-prize * De bende van Jan de Lichte (1957), modern picaresque novel * De paradijsvogel (1958), novel * Blauwbaardje in Wonderland en andere grimmige sprookjes voor verdorven kinderen (1962), fairy tales * Geniaal, maar met korte beentjes (1967), essays * Pieter Daens of hoe in de negentiende eeuw de arbeiders van Aalst vochten tegen armoede en onrecht (1971), historical novel. Awarded the Multatuli-prize * Mieke Maaike's obscene jeugd (1972), pornographic novella * De zwarte hand, of het anarchisme van de negentiende eeuw in het industriestadje Aalst (1976), historical novel * Het geuzenboek (1979), historical novel

References

External links

Discovering Louis Paul Boon (English)A Boon overview by Eric Dickens (English)Louis Paal Boon at the Digital Library for Dutch Literature
(in Dutch)
"The First of May"
Tr. A. Giridhar Rao, Research and Practice Blog, Azim Premji University, 30 April 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Boon, Louis Paul 1912 births 1979 deaths People from Aalst, Belgium 20th-century Belgian writers Belgian male novelists Belgian male poets Belgian erotica writers Flemish writers Constantijn Huygens Prize winners 20th-century Belgian novelists 20th-century Belgian journalists 20th-century Belgian poets 20th-century Belgian male writers Belgian comics writers Belgian columnists Belgian art critics 20th-century Belgian painters 20th-century Belgian sculptors Belgian male painters Belgian male sculptors