Jacques De Decker (19 August 1945 – 12 April 2020) was a Belgian writer and author.
Biography
De Decker was born in
Schaerbeek
(French language, French and History of Dutch orthography, archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Re ...
in 1945. His brother was
Armand De Decker
Armand De Decker (8 October 1948 – 12 June 2019) was a Belgium, Belgian politician and member of the French-speaking liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR).
De Decker studied law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and practised law. He w ...
, a politician, and his father was Luc De Decker, a painter.
De Decker characterized his writing with its multiple diversities. He was the only author in Belgium to write in the country's three native languages: Dutch, French, and German. He also wrote in many different genres.
He worked as a teacher and a journalist before working as a professor at the
. He also taught at the
Université libre de Bruxelles, the École d'interprètes internationaux, the
University of Mons
The University of Mons (french: Université de Mons) is a Belgian university located in the city of Mons, founded in 2009 by merging the Engineering Faculty of Mons (FPMs) and the University of Mons-Hainaut. The merging of the institutions wa ...
,
INSAS
INSAS or Indian Small Arms System is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun (LMG). It was designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment and manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Boa ...
, and the
Royal Conservatory of Brussels
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (french: Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Provid ...
. He started journalism in 1971, and worked for the daily newspaper ''
Le Soir
''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...
'', where he directed cultural services from 1985 to 1990.
De Decker founded the Théâtre de l'Esprit Frappeur alongside Albert-André Lheureux in 1963. At the theatre, the pair displayed works by
Hugo Claus
Hugo Maurice Julien Claus (; 5 April 1929 – 19 March 2008) was a leading Belgian author who published under his own name as well as various pseudonyms. Claus' literary contributions spanned the genres of drama, the novel, and poetry; he also l ...
,
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
,
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
, and
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
.
In 1985, De Decker published his first novel, ''La Grande Roue'', which was selected for the
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...
and translated into several languages. During this time, he developed a vast array of material as an essayist, biographer, and critic. He was President of the Organisation Beaumarchais in Paris, and then elected to succeed
Albert Ayguesparse as President of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique in Brussels in 1997. In 1998, he helped relaunch the magazine ''Marginales''. In this endeavor, he joined Jean Jauniaux, who also wrote ''La Faculté des Lettres''.
Jacques De Decker died on 12 April 2020 in Brussels, at the age of 74 from COVID-19.
Literary works
Novels
*''La Grande roue'' (1985)
*''Parades amoureuses'' (1990)
*''Lettres de mon auto'' (1990)
*''Le Ventre de la baleine'' (1996)
*''Tu n'as rien vu à Waterloo'' (2003)
*''Histoires de tableaux'' (2005)
*''Modèles réduits'' (2010)
Essays
*''Over Claus' Toneel'' (1971)
*''Bruxelles un guide intime'' (1987)
*''Les Années critiques : Les Septentrionaux'' (1990)
*''En lisant, en écoutant..'' (1996)
*''La Brosse à relire'' (1999)
*''Un bagage poétique pour le 3e millénaire'' (2001)
*''Les Philosophes amateurs'' (2004)
*''Entretien avec Hubert Nyssen'' (2005)
Biographies
*''Ibsen'' (2006)
*''Wagner'' (2010)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Jacques De
1945 births
2020 deaths
20th-century Belgian writers
21st-century Belgian writers
People from Schaerbeek
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium