Edmund Gosse

“ Blommaert, who was born at Ghent on the 27th of August 1809, founded in 1834 in his native town the Nederduitsche letteroefeningen, a review for the new writers, and it was speedily followed by other Flemish organs, and by literary societies for the promotion of Flemish. In 1851 a central organization for the Flemish propaganda was provided by a society, named after the father of the movement, the “Willemsfonds.” ”

“ As a result of this propaganda the Flemish language was placed on an equality with French in law, and in administration, in 1873 and 1878, and in the schools in 1883. Finally in 1886 a Flemish Academy was established by royal authority at Ghent, where a course in Flemish literature had been established as early as 1854. ”

“ Prudens van Duyse, whose most ambitious work was the epic Artavelde (1859) , is perhaps best remembered by a collection (1844) of poems for children. Peter Frans Van Kerckhoven (1818–1857) , a native of Antwerp, wrote novels, poems, dramas, and a work on the Flemish revival (De Vlaemsche Beweging, 1847) .
Antwerp produced a realistic novelist in Jan Lambrecht Damien Sleeckx (1818–1901) . An inspector of schools by profession, he was an indefatigable journalist and literary critic. He was one of the founders in 1844 of the Vlaemsch België, the first daily paper in the Flemish interest. ”

“ Lodewijk de Koninck (b. 1838) , who attempted a great epic subject in Menschdon Verlost (1872) ; J. M. Dautzenberg (1808–1869) , author of a volume of charming Volksliederen. The best of Dautzenberg’s work is contained in the posthumous volume of 1869, published by his son-in-law, Frans de Cort (1834–1878) , who was himself a song-writer, and translated songs from Burns, from Jasmin and from the German. ”