Flemish author Stijn Streuvels was candidate for 1965 Nobel Prize
Stijn Streuvels, author of such seminal Flemish works as The Flax Field and Land and Life in Flanders, was a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965, according to just-released archives
Prolific author
Although Streuvels, born in Kortrijk in 1871, was accepted as a candidate, he was not part of the short list of nominations in a year that included works by Pablo Neruda, Vladimir Nabokov and Jorge Luis Borges. Russian Mikhail Sholokhov, author of And Quiet Flows the Don, won the prize that year.
Streuvels, the nephew of famous Flemish poet Guido Gezelle, was also a candidate for the prize in 1937 and ‘38. The author of more than 70 short story collections, novels and non-fiction books, Streuvels is best-known for his 1907 novel De Vlaschaard (The Flax Field), an epic story of a conflict between father and son.
A few of Streuvels books, many of which were controversial at the time in a staunchly Catholic country, have been translated into English, including The Flax Field. Streuvels passed away in 1969 at the age of 97.
The only Belgian to ever win the Nobel Prize for Literature was turn-of-the-20th-century poet, playwright and composer Maurice Maeterlinck, author of The Blue Bird and The Life of the Bee, who won in 1911.
Photo: Author Stijn Streuvels in 1949
About the author
Lisa Bradshaw is the editor-in-chief of Flanders Today. She worked as an editor and journalist in her homeland, the United States, before moving to the awesome city of Ghent in 2004. If she’s not in the office, she’s probably at a film festival.
