Gedicht paul van ostaijen biography
•
Preface
By Hannah Van Hove
In selecting these poems for translation, I have aimed to give as broad an overview of possible of Van Ostaijen’s work, presenting a poem from each of his collections (and two of those collected in Posthumous Poems).
The first of the translations consists of extracts from the poem entitled ‘Music-Hall’. In this early poetic style of Van Ostaijen’s, rhyme occupies a central part – in certain stanzas, sentence construction is quite unusual in the Dutch original due to the poem maintaining the rhyme scheme. Wherever possible then, I have tried to keep rhyme present within the translation, occasionally adding a word or translating a sentence quite liberally in order to convey the sense of rhyme and rhythm of the poem.
The second poem, ‘Vincent Van Gogh’ (extracts), taken from Het Sienjaal, required a different approach. Here, the form appeared more in subordination to the content; a dense poem, with many ambiguities, it allows for multiple interpre
•
Paul van Ostaijen
Belgian poet and writer ( – )
Paul van Ostaijen | |
|---|---|
Paul van Ostaijen | |
| Born | ()22 February Antwerp, Belgium |
| Died | 18 March () (aged&#;32) Miavoye-Anthée, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation(s) | poet, writer |
Paul van Ostaijen (22 February – 18 March ) was a BelgianDutch-language poet and writer.
Nickname
[edit]Van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp to Dutch father and Flemish mother. His nickname was Mister , derived from his habit of walking along the streets of Antwerp clothed as a dandy from that year.
His poetry shows influences from Modernism, Expressionism, Dadaism and early Surrealism, but Van Ostaijen's style is very much his own.
Flamingant
[edit]Van Ostaijen was an active flamingant, a supporter of Flemish independence. Because of his involvement with Flemish activism during World War I, he had to flee to Berlin after the war. In Berlin—one of the centers of Dadaism and Expressionism—he met many other artists. He
•
By Hannah Van Hove
Paul van Ostaijen () has justly been hailed as one of the greatest innovators and experimenters in Dutch literature. During his short but prolific literary career (he was only thirty-two at the time of his death), he continually sought to question pre-conceived ideas regarding the role of poetry and art, engaging with various early twentieth-century avant-garde movements in order to stretch the boundaries of conventional literary form. Known primarily as a poet, he also wrote satirical prose pieces, a film-script, some translations of Kafka and numerous important articles on art – all of which have contributed to his deserved reputation as Belgium’s “prophet of modernism.”[1]
Paul van Ostaijen was born in Antwerp on the 22nd of February in to a Catholic family. Expelled from a Jesuit college, involved with the Vlaamsche Bond (an association of Flemish nationalist pupils who believed in “self-education on all fronts”) and influenced by writers such as Émil