Pierre Mertens (9 October 1939 – 19 January 2025) was a Belgian writer and lawyer who specialised in

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

, director of the Centre de sociologie de la littérature at the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

, and literary critic with the newspaper ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, ) is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Émile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. Together with '' La Libre Belgique'', it is one of the most popular Francophone newsp ...

''.

Life and career

Influenced by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, Mertens started to publish novels and short stories in 1969 and received the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis () is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and .

in 1987 for ''Les éblouissements''. He nevertheless continued his activities as a lawyer, participating in many battles for human rights. In 1989, he entered the Académie royale de langue et littérature de Belgique, and was also named ''Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' by France. Mertens reflected much on the social function of the writer. For him, private life, fiction, and history were inseparable. Thus he granted a central place to the memory in the creation of his works. To him the novelist finds his inspiration in their personal and the historical past. Mertens was particularly marked by the activities of his parents, his father a journalist and music lover and his mother a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and pianist. He was also much affected by the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, the execution of the Rosenbergs and the tragedy of the miners of

Marcinelle Marcinelle (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. Until 1977, it was a municipality of its own. The town of Marcinelle is renowned as the home ...

in 1956. Later as a scholar of international law he denounced the genocide in

Biafra Biafara Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicized as Biafra ( ), officially the Republic of Biafra, was a List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, partially recognised state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria ...

, torture in Ireland, and the prisons of

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader of the military junta, which i ...

. Another important inspiration was music. In his novels, one finds the influence of music, such as the

leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

s which cross them (the figure of the tiger, for example). He was also the author of a booklet on opera, ''La passion de Gilles'' (1982). His travels and his extensive education gave him an international perspective. In ''Les Bons offices'' (1974) and ''Terre d'asile'' (1978) Belgian history is presented from a foreign perspective. Mertens often saw his country as a synthesis of Europe and its problems. He caused controversy in his homeland with his book '' Une paix royale'', published in 1995, which tells a fictionalised story of Belgium's royal family, mixing fiction and reality. He was tried and forced to remove a couple of pages from the subsequent editions. Mertens died on 19 January 2025, at the age of 85.

Works

*''L'Inde ou l'Amérique'' – 1969 *''Le Niveau de la mer'' – 1970 *''L'Imprescriptibilité des crimes de guerre et contre *l'humanité'' – 1974 *''Les Bons offices'' – 1974 *''Terre d'asile'' – 1978 *''Nécrologies'' – 1977 *''La Fête des anciens'' – 1983 *''Terreurs'' – 1983 *''Perdre'' – 1984 *''Berlin'' – 1986 *''Les éblouissements'' – 1987 *''Uwe Johnson, le scripteur de murs'' – 1989 *''L'Agent double'' – 1989 *''Lettres clandestines'' – 1990 *''Les Chutes centrales'' – 1990 *''Les Phoques de San Francisco'' – 1991 *''Flammes'' – 1993 *''Une paix royale'' – 1995 *''Collision et autres nouvelles'' – 1995 *''Tout est feu'' – 1999 *''Perasma'' – 2001

References

External links

Pierre Mertens at ARLFFB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mertens, Pierre 1939 births 2025 deaths Belgian writers in French Belgian Marxists Prix Médicis winners People from Watermael-Boitsfort