Maxence Van der Meersch (4 May 1907 – 14 January 1951) was a

French Flemish French Flemish (French Flemish: , Standard Dutch: , french: flamand français) is a West Flemish dialect spoken in the north of contemporary France. Place names attest to Flemish having been spoken since the 8th century in the part of Fland ...

writer.

Life

Maxence, of delicate health, came from a relatively well off family — his father was an accountant. On 27 October 1918, he lost his sister, Sarah, who was just 19 years old, to tuberculosis, the disease that would eventually kill him too. His parents' marriage broke up. Marguerite, his mother, became an alcoholic, and his father, Benjamin, lived a life considered dissolute by the standards of the times. In 1927, Maxence fell in love with Thérèze Denis, a poor working-class girl, with whom he lived in

Wasquehal Wasquehal (traditional pronunciation ; currently common pronunciation ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. The town originally had a Flemish name; it was written as ''Waskenhal'' in the 11th century. Geography Wasquehal ha ...

, against the wishes of his father, who dreamt of a more prestigious union for his son. In 1929, from this union that was only regularised in 1934, a daughter, Sarah, was born, named in memory of his sister. Thérèze was the only love of Maxence's life and is the key to an understanding of his work. She was the inspiration for the protagonist of his trilogy ''La Fille pauvre'' (''The Poor Girl''). A lawyer by training, he in fact practiced this profession very little, preferring to devote himself to writing. His work, replete with a spirit of

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

, is essentially concerned with the life of the people of the

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

, his native region.Invasion, by Maxence van der Meersch
''

The Neglected Books Page ''The Neglected Books Page'' is a book review website. The site features reviews of books that have been, according to the site, "neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or stranded by changing tides in critical or popular taste." The site was founded i ...

'', February 26th, 2012 In 1936 he was awarded 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 ...

for ''L'Empreinte du dieu'' (''Hath Not the Potter''). In 1943 he published ''Corps et âmes'' (''Bodies and Souls''), which was awarded the ''grand prix de l'Académie française'' for that year. The novel was an international success — it was translated into 13 languages. It centred round the ideas of a celebrated doctor, Dr.

Paul Carton Paul Joseph Edmond Carton (12 March 1875 – 20 October 1947) was a French physician, naturopath and practitioner of vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insect ...

(1875-1947), for whom Van der Meersch had a profound admiration. Carton emphasised the importance of cleanliness and good day-to-day living, work environment, nutrition etc.: "Le microbe n'est rien. Le terrain est tout." ("The germ is nothing. The terrain is everything.") The protagonists of the novel are followers of Carton. Van der Meersch came from a family of

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...

— his father was a

Nietzschean Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) developed his philosophy during the late 19th century. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (''The World as Will and Repres ...

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

— but he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in 1936. He wrote two religious biographies, one of the

Curé d'Ars John Vianney (born Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney; 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859), venerated as Saint John Vianney, was a French Catholic priest who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as the patron saint of parish priests. He is oft ...

and the other of

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (french: Thérèse de Lisieux ), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (), was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...

. ''Quand les sirènes se taisent'' (1933) is set against the background of the Worker-priest movement active during strikes in northern French factories during the inter-war period. ''L'Elu'' (1936) explores the theme of the influence of the Flemish and latent religious past among a family of ostensibly successful rationalists. Van der Meersch experienced great success in his lifetime, but today he has a far lower profile. Nevertheless, in 2010 some half a dozen of his books were still in print in France. In 1998 ''La société des Amis de Van der Meersch'' was created by a group of his admirers. In 1988 his first novel, ''La Maison dans la dune'' (1932), was made into a film by Michel Mees, with

Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo (; born 4 October 1953) is a French actor and musician of Turkish origin. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in nu ...

in the principal role.

Criticism

The sometimes iconoclastic, distinguished historian

Richard Cobb Richard Charles Cobb (20 May 1917 – 15 January 1996) was a British historian and essayist, and professor at the University of Oxford. He was the author of numerous influential works about the history of France, particularly the French R ...

called van der Meersch "a regionalist who had written almost exclusively about

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

and who had brought honour to the town by winning the Prix Goncourt." In Cobb's opinion, "He was, in fact, a clumsy stylist, a Christian-Socialist

Zola Zola may refer to: People * Zola (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * Zola (musician) (born 1977), South African entertainer * Zola (rapper), French rapper * Émile Zola, a major nineteenth-century French writer Plac ...

, who wrote off an accumulated stock of ''fiches'' iles" (''Fiches'' meaning dossiers of people taken from real sources).

Death

He died in Le Touquet in 1951. He had gone there to be treated for

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

Publications

Fiction

*''La Maison dans la dune'' (1932) — '' The House on the Dune'' (1938) *''Car ils ne savent ce qu'ils font...'' (1933) — ''They Know Not What They Do'' (1958) *''Quand les sirènes se taisent'' (1933) — ''When the Looms Are Silent'' (1934) *''La fille pauvre Tome I: Le Péché du monde'' (1934) — ''The Poor Girl Book I: The Sins of the World'' (1949) *''Invasion 14'' (1934) — ''Invasion '14'' (1937) *''Maria, fille de Flandre'' (1935) — ''The Bellringer's Wife'' (1951) *''L'Empreinte du dieu'' (1936) — ''Hath Not the Potter'' (1937) *''Pêcheurs d'hommes'' (1936) — ''Fishers of Men'' (1947) *''L'Elu'' (1936) — ''The Dynamite Factory'' (1953) *''Corps et âmes'' (1943) — ''Bodies and Souls'' (1948) *''La fille pauvre Tome II: Le Cœur Pur'' (1948) — ''The Poor Girl Book II: Pure in Heart'' (1949)Published with ''Book I: The Sins of the World'' in one volume entitled ''The Poor Girl''. *''La fille pauvre Tome III: La Compagne'' (1955) — ''The Hour of Love: The Poor Girl Book III'' (1956) *''Masque de chair'' (1958) — ''Mask of Flesh'' (1959)

Nonfiction

*''Vie du Curé d'Ars'' (1936) *''Femmes à l'encan'' (1943) (an essay against prostitution) *''La petite sainte Thérèse'' (1943) *''Pourquoi j'ai écrit'' Corps et âmes (1956) (an essay in defence of Cartonian medicine)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Der Meersch, Maxence 1907 births 1951 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis French Roman Catholics Prix Goncourt winners Roman Catholic writers 20th-century French novelists French male novelists 20th-century French male writers Tuberculosis deaths in France