Streuvels, Stijn

Streuvels, Stijn (stīn strö`vəls), pseud. of Frank Lateur (frängk lätör`), 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 fatalism; De Vlaschaard (1907), his masterpiece, strikes a more optimistic note. The short-story collection The Path of Life (1899, tr. 1915), the novels Old Jan (1902, tr. 1936) and Werkmenschen (1927), and an autobiography (1966) are among his other works.

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Streuvels, Stijn 

(pen name of Frank Lateur). Born Oct. 3, 1871, in Heule, near the city of Kortrijk; died Aug. 15, 1969, in Ingooigem, near Kortrijk. Belgian writer who wrote in Flemish.

Streuvels began publishing in 1895; he was a contributor to the journal Van Nu en Straks (Today and Tomorrow). He was one of the first Belgian writers to depict the village toiler, in his short-story collection The Path of Life (1899). The novel Old Jan (1902) realistically portrayed the exhausting labor of the peasant. Streuvels’ pessimism intensified in the novels Love Affairs (1903), The Flax Field (1907), and The Flowers of Life (1938) and in the short-story collection Workmen (1926). Streuvels’ works are humane, spontaneous, and lyrical. His novella Prutske (1922) and the autobiographical novella Heule (1942) subtly portrayed the psychology of a child.

WORKS

Volledige werken. Amsterdam, 1950–55.
In levenden lijve. Bruges, 1966.

REFERENCES

Andreev, L. G. Sto let Bel’giiskoi literatury. Moscow, 1967. Pages 233–40.
Knuvelder, G. Stijn Streuvels. Brussels, 1964.
Speliers, H. Omtrent Streuvels. Bruges, 1968.
Demedts, A. Stijn Streuvels. Utrecht-Bruges, 1971. (Bibliography on pp. 375–78.)

V. V. DANCHEV