Marie Nizet (19 January 1859 – 15 March 1922), married name Marie Mercier, was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

writer.

Life

Marie Nizet was born in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

into a literary family. She was a student at

Isabelle Gatti de Gamond Isabelle Laure Gatti de Gamond (28 July 1839 – 11 October 1905) was a Belgian educationalist, feminist, and politician. Life Isabelle Gatti was the second of four daughters born to Giovanni Gatti, an Italian artist, and feminist writer Zo� ...

's secondary girls' school (''Cours d'Éducation pour jeunes filles''). Her father, employed at the Royal Library of Belgium, had published patriotic poetry and works on history and librarianship. Her brother Henri was to become a journalist and novelist. Nizet developed an interest in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, perhaps due to the influence of émigrés and students who lodged with the family. Her first poetic works were published in 1878, written during the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On , Romania and the R ...

and before the

Congress of Berlin The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at th ...

secured Romania's independence, expressed her support for the Romanians and her opposition to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

's attempts to dominate Romania. Her early work met with some success but her literary career was to be short, ending in 1879 when she married. Her marriage ended in acrimonious divorce and Nizet was left to raise her son alone. Following her death at

Etterbeek Etterbeek (French: ; Dutch: ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the City of Brussels, Ixelles, Schaerbeek, Wolu ...

in 1922, her son found a collection of love poems, dedicated to Nizet's late lover Cecil Axel-Veneglia, which were published the following year as ''Pour Axel'' to critical acclaim.

Selected publications

* ''Moscou et Bucharest'' (1877) * ''Pierre le Grand à Jassi'' (1878) * ''România (chants de la Roumanie)'' (1878) * ''Le Capitaine Vampire'' (1879) (translated by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

as '' Captain Vampire'' * ''Pour Axel de Missie'' (1923)

Translations

* Linkhorn, Renée & Judy Cochran (eds), ''Belgian women poets: an anthology'' (2000) * Shapiro, Norman R. (ed.), ''French Women Poets of Nine Centuries: The Distaff and the Pen'' (2008) * Stableford, Brian (adapted by), ''Captain Vampire'' (2007)

References

* Benkov, Edith J., "Marie Nizet", in Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), ''An Encyclopedia of continental women writers'', Volume 2. New York: Garland, 1991. * Brogniez, Laurence, "NIZET, Marie (1859–1922)", in Éliane Gubin, Catherine Jacques, Valérie Piette & Jean Puissant (eds), ''Dictionnaire des femmes belges: XIX^e et XX^e siècles.'' (pp. 422–424) Bruxelles: Éditions Racine, 2006.

External links

* Nizet'
România
at the

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nizet, Marie 1859 births 1922 deaths Belgian women poets Writers from Brussels 19th-century Belgian poets 19th-century Belgian women writers