Hendrik Conscience – Belgian Novelist
Hendrik Conscience (1812-1883) is a Belgian novelist and short-story writer, renowned for the development of Flemish literature.
He was born in Antwerp in 1812. His father was French and his mother was Flemish. Until he was seven years old, Conscience was a invalid so he was laughed at by other children of his age. So, books were his favorite companions. In fact, it was by reading that he mainly educated himself, because his schooling was limited to what would be considered in modern times as elementary school.1
In 1830 Hendrik Conscience became a tutor in the Delin School, but when the Belgian struggle of independence against the French began, Conscience resigned his position at the school and became a private in the army. Conscience’s service in the military, which lasted almost six years, brought him into contact with the peasants of the northern part of Belgium, and gave him an opportunity to study their manners and their customs.2
After he retired from the army, in 1868 he was appointed administrator of the royal museums of painting and sculpture in Antwerp. He also for a while taught the Flemish language to the sons of King Leopold I, and in 1868 was offered the chair of Flemish literature in the University of Ghent, but he refused. In 1869 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium.3
While he was still in the army, Conscience began to write stories, but in French language. In 1837 he began to write in Flemish, even thought the language was long considered unfit for writing literature. In Flemish Hendrik Conscience published his first novel, “The Wonderful Year”, and six months later a book of verse and prose, “Phantazij”. In 1838 he wrote “The Lion of Flanders” which is about the victories of the Flemish people over the French in a 14th-century battle at Kortrijk, Belgium. It is considered to be Conscience’s finest work and a masterpiece of Flemish literature. Other books by Hendrik Conscience are “Jacob van Artevelde”, “Siska van Roosemael”, “The Blessing of Being Rich”, “The Conscript”, and “Baas Gasendonck”.4
Shortly after the death of Conscience in 1883, the city of Antwerp built a monument for him.5
Literary experts say that:
"Conscience got his inspiration from three main sources: the fatherland, the family, and loyalty to the Church. His conception of art is an idealistic one, though he gives a vivid account of the realities of life. His avowed purpose was always to inspire the people with a love for the good and the beautiful. He possesses to a high degree the sense of the dramatic and pathetic; he has a wonderful power of grasping the picturesque side of things, and often renders it with a rare felicity of expression..."6
