Hendrik Conscience

Hendrik Conscience (born Dec. 3, 1812, Antwerp, Belg.—died Sept. 10, 1883, Elsene) was a Belgian romantic novelist who so dominated the birth and development of the Flemish novel that it was said he “taught his people to read.”

Conscience’s father was French, his mother Flemish. He spent some of his early years as an assistant teacher (1828–30), took part in the uprising of July 1830 (which resulted in the independence of Belgium), and served in the Belgian army from 1831 to 1836. After falling under the spell of the Kempen, a quiet region of pinewoods and heather north of Antwerp, he was introduced to French romanticism and began to write French verse. Demobilized in 1836, he entered the literary and artistic life of Antwerp. He was fascinated by his country’s Flemish past and wrote in Dutch (or Flemish, as it is often known). In’t wonderjaar (1837; “In the Year of Miracles”), a series of historical scenes centred on the eventful year 1566, when the Calvinists of the Spanish Netherlands revolted against the Spanish Catholic rule. With De leeuw van Vlaanderen (1838; The Lion of Flanders), the passionate epic of the revolt of the Flemish towns against France and the victory of the Flemish militia at the Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302), he not only created the Flemish novel but wrote an outstanding historical novel in the tradition of Sir Walter Scott.

After 1840, while supporting himself as a clerk and taking an active part in local politics (he was a gifted orator), Conscience turned more and more to an idyllic realism and wrote novels and tales about urban and rural life. These works, which have been criticized for their sentimentality and moralizing, include Wat een moeder lijden kan (1844; What a Mother Can Endure), Houten Clara (1850; Wooden Clara), and De arme edelman (1851; The Poor Gentleman), as well as the village idylls Blinde Rosa (1850; Blind Rosa), De loteling (1850; The Conscript), and Rikke-tikke-tak (first published serially, 1845; as a book, 1851; Eng. trans., Ricketicketack). At the same time his historical novels (e.g., Jacob van Artevelde; 1849) took a more definite shape. He was at the height of his genius, and his works became internationally known through translations into several languages. Having abandoned politics, he became district commissioner at Kortrijk in 1856 and curator of the Wiertz Museum in Brussels in 1868. But his spendthrift manner and expensive household led him to write prolifically, sometimes to the detriment of his style. Among the many books of this last period are Het goudland (1862; “The Land of Gold”), the first Flemish adventure novel, and De kerels van Vlaanderen (1871; “The Boys of Flanders”), another historical novel. The publication of his 100th book in 1881 led to mass tributes to him in Brussels, and in 1883 the city of Antwerp erected a statue in his honour.

Conscience was a key figure in the literary and national Flemish renaissance of the 19th century. His vivid narratives, imagination, and rich sensibility compensate for the impurities of his language and his didacticism.