Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.

Biography

Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

father from the Rhineland (

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the '' Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing villa ...

). He was related to the famous

poet Christoph Martin Wieland.Romain Vanlandschoot, ''Albrecht Rodenbach: biografie'', Lannoo Uitgeverij (2002), p. 72 He went to school in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

at the prestigious

Sint-Barbaracollege Sint-Barbaracollege in Ghent, Belgium, is a private Jesuit school, founded in 1833. It currently includes primary and secondary education. History The school is built on the location of a cloister, the "Sint Barbaraklooster in Jerusalem". The c ...

, where he became friends with the poet

Emile Verhaeren Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

. Rodenbach worked as a lawyer and journalist. He spent the last ten years of his life in Paris as the correspondent of the '' Journal de Bruxelles'', and was an intimate of

Edmond de Goncourt Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. Biography Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot d ...

. He published eight collections of verse and four novels, as well as short stories, stage works and criticism. He produced some Parisian and purely imitative work; but a major part of his production is the outcome of a passionate idealisation of the quiet Flemish towns in which he had passed his childhood and early youth. In his best known work, '' Bruges-la-Morte'' (1892), he explains that his aim is to evoke the town as a living being, associated with the moods of the spirit, counselling, dissuading from and prompting action. ''Bruges-la-Morte'' was used by the composer

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...

as the basis for his opera

Die tote Stadt ' (German for ''The Dead City''), Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It is based on the 1892 novel '' Bruges-la-Mo ...

Albrecht Rodenbach Albertus "Albrecht" Petrus Josephus Mansuetus Ferdinandus Rodenbach (; 27 October 1856 – 23 June 1880) was a Flemish poet, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature that occurred in the late 19th century. He is more noteworthy as a sy ...

, his cousin, was a poet and novelist as well, and a leader in the revival of Flemish literature of the 19th century.

Works

* ''Le Foyer et les Champs'' (1877), poetry * ''Les Tristesses'' (1879), poetry * ''La Belgique 1830-1880'' (1880), historic poem * ''La Mer élégante'' (1881), poetry * ''L'Hiver mondain'' (1884) * ''Vers d'amour'' (1884) * ''La Jeunesse blanche'' (1886), poetry * ''Du Silence'' (1888) * ''L'Art en exil'' (1889) * '' Bruges-la-Morte'' (1892) * ''Le Voyage dans les yeux'' (1893) * ''Le Voile'', drama * ''L'Agonie du soleil'' (1894) * ''Musée de béguines'' (1894) * ''Le Tombeau de Baudelaire'' (1894) * '' La Vocation'' (1895), translated as ''Hans Cadzand's Vocation'' * ''A propos de "Manette Salomon". L'Œuvre des Goncourt'' (1896) * ''Les Tombeaux'' (1896) * ''Les Vierges'' (1896) * ''Les Vies encloses'' (1896), poem * '' Le Carillonneur'' (1897), translated as ''The Bells of Bruges'' * ''Agonies de villes'' (1897) * ''Le Miroir du ciel natal'' (1898) * ''Le Mirage'' (1900)

References

External links

* * * (See pp. 680–681.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodenbach, Georges Raymond Constantin 1855 births 1898 deaths Writers from Tournai Belgian poets in French Decadent literature Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Symbolist novelists Symbolist poets 19th-century Belgian poets 19th-century Belgian novelists 19th-century Belgian male writers Belgian people of French descent Belgian people of German descent