Paul Claes (born 30 October 1943) is a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

scholar, writer, poet and translator. Born in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, Claes graduated in classical literature and Germanic

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

(Dutch and English). He obtained a PhD in 1981, with a dissertation ''De mot zit in de mythe'' on references to classical texts in the works of

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 ...

. He worked at the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

and the

Catholic University of Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...

. He wrote the script for ''Reynaert de Vos'' (1973-1974), a satirical newspaper comic based on

Reynard the Fox Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, as ...

, drawn by hugOKÉ. Claes made his debut as a poet in 1983 with

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

s in ''De zonen van de zon''. His translation of T.S. Eliot's "

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...

" (2007) includes a comprehensive commentary and a new interpretation. "La clef des Illuminations" (2008) is a new interpretation of

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

's masterpiece. "Concatenatio Catulliana" (2002) proposes a new theory about the arrangement of Catullus' "Carmina". * Het netwerk en de nevelvlek (1979) * De zonen van de zon (1983) * Claus-reading (1984) * De mot zit in de mythe (1984) * 'Hans Favery. Een (de)constructie' (1985) * De Kwadratuur van de Onyx (1986) * Claus quadrifrons (1987) * Echo's echo's. De kunst van de allusie (1988) * Rebis (1989) * Het laatste boek (1992) * De Sater (1993) * Gezelle gelezen (1993 .e. 1992 * Embleem (1994) * Mimicry (1994) * Raadsels van Rilke (1995) * De zoon van de Panter (1996) * De phoenix (1998) * De gulden tak (2000) * Glans (2000) * De kameleon (2001) * Het Hart van de Schorpioen (2002) * De Lezer (2003) * Lily (2003) * Sfinx (2004) * Psyche (2006) * Plastic Love (2013) * De haas en de regenboog (2016)

Awards

* 1984 - Prijs voor de Kunstkritiek * 1985 - Literaire Prijs van de stad Antwerpen * 1991 - Driejaarlijkse Belgische Staatsprijs voor het essay * 1996 -

Martinus Nijhoff Martinus Nijhoff (20 April 1894, in The Hague – 26 January 1953, in The Hague) was a Dutch poet and essayist. He studied literature in Amsterdam and law in Utrecht. His debut was made in 1916 with his volume ''De wandelaar'' ("The wanderer"). F ...

prijs * 2002 -

Multatuli Prize The Multatuli Prize (in Dutch: Multatuliprijs) is a Dutch literary prize that is given every year to an author for exemplary writing in Dutch language. Background The prizes were started in Amsterdam after the Second World War. The prize is na ...

Sources

Paul Claes
(in Dutch)

(in Dutch) 1943 births Living people Flemish writers Belgian comics writers Belgian translators Dutch–English translators English–Dutch translators French–Dutch translators Latin–Dutch translators Translators of Ancient Greek texts Writers from Leuven KU Leuven alumni KU Leuven faculty Radboud University Nijmegen faculty {{Belgium-writer-stub

Awards

See also

Sources