- Streuvels work usually deals with the rural life of poor farmers in Flanders.
- His novels 'De teleurgang van de waterhoek' was made into a film titled 'Mira'. Also 'De vlaschaard' (twice) and' De blijde dag' were filmed.
- Before appearing in book form, De vlaschaard was published in the Dutch magazine De Beweging. This was an appropriate first home for the novel because the magazine's editor, Albert Verwey, deliberately gathered authors who were able to rise above the prevailing naturalism and be inspired by what he called 'the Idea', a symbolist assimilation of sensory perceptions. After reading Streuvels's manuscript Verwey enthusiastically stated: 'If the sun could write, it would write like Streuvels.'.
- Even in the 21st century the reader cannot help but be moved by the compelling power of Streuvels's descriptions of nature. It is not necessary to know that the author was a baker who spent his whole life in direct contact with traditionally closed country folk. His work shows clearly that he knew their language and character inside out and was deeply inspired by nature. The changing seasons and the power of the elements are convincingly evoked. Lovingly and yet dramatically, the author depicts the conversations and summer festivals of the peasants who, within their limited human possibilities, are integrated within nature as a whole.
- He became doctor honoris causa at the University of Leuven, the University of Münster and the University of Pretoria.
- He started writing at a very young age. He was inspired by his uncle (another famous writer) Guido Gezelle.
- After moving into the house The Thrush's Nest in the village of Ingooigem, the Flemish writer Stijn Streuvels (pseudonym of Frank Lateur, 1871-1969) commenced work on the great agrarian novel (The Flax Field) which would make him famous. From his desk he looked out over the wide fields and watched the flax workers at work. He listened to the songs the women sung while weeding.
- A few of Streuvels books, many of which were controversial at the time in a staunchly Catholic country, have been translated into English, including The Flax Field.
- His house in Ingooigem, Flanders, is now a Streuvels museum.
- In 1905 he married Alida Staelens. They had 4 children: Paula (1906), Paul (1909), Dina (1916) and Isa (1922). In 1980 their house became a museum dedicated to Streuvels.
- Within Flemish letters De vlaschaard stands as a monument to flexibility, masterly language and accomplishment. In it, Streuvels convincingly conveys his theme of ruthless destiny.
- In his last period he was mainly concerned with writing his memoirs.
- In 1937 and 1938 Streuvels garnered the majority of the Nobel Committee votes for his receiving the literature Nobel Prize, but each time the Academy awarded the prize to someone else: in 1937 he had to give way to Roger Martin du Gard and in 1938 to a new discovery, Pearl Buck.
- In 1962, Stijn Streuvels received the Dutch Literature Prize ( de Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren) in The Hague, the highest award for a writer in Dutch language area. "The magic does its work: the reader is trapped in the magic circle of Streuvel's magic world," wrote the jury.
- About 7,000 people were present at his funeral with the covered wagon.
- The Flemish writer Guido Gezelle was his uncle. Gezelle inspired him to become himself a writer.
- Until 1905 he worked as a baker at Avelghem, a village near Kortrijk.
- The journalist Wam De Moor wrote:" Streuvels is such an important author, or more precisely, what he wrote about human and social relationships is so unique, that it is essential that this work remains accessible to new readers.".
- The archive of nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature at the Swedish Academy shows that Streuvels was 13 times nominated - between 1937 and 1957 -. He was nominated in 1965 too.
- Initially his work was published in an insignificant magazine, De jonge Vlaming (The young Fleming). Soon he was discovered by the editors of a new magazine, Van Nu en Straks (From Now and Soon). After their first encounter, Emmanuel de Bom became his mentor and advised him to publish his work in book form.
- At his best, Streuvels was a master of characterization, especially in his portrayal of farmers obstinately struggling against the land and against destiny. His epic but lyrical prose style, perfectly suited to his subject, is among the best of its period.
- A master baker for 15 years, he learned German, English, Danish, and some Russian, and he began writing after 1892.
- The funeral of Stijn Streuvels on August 21, 1969, attended by some 7,000 people in Ingooigem, was reported on Belgian national television. There was far too little room for the people of the village itself. It was their turn on 31 August at a second funeral ceremony.
- He read voraciously in between his bread-making tasks, and taught himself numerous languages. (In later life he would translate the work of another baker-writer who had been raised among lacemakers, Maxim Gorky.).
- He was self-educated and read and spoke several languages, including French, English, German, Danish and Russian.
- Streuvels maternal uncle was the priest-poet Guido Gezelle, almost unknown in Britain but in Belgium probably rated as the most important writer in Flemish. Gezelle, too, ran foul of the ecclesiastical authorities for his writings, but he chose obedience rather than resistance.
- Streuvels' work has won innumerable awards and has been translated many times.
- After his death, there was occasional controversy about his relationship with Germany and his work during the two World Wars. In 14-18, for example, Streuvels wrote a diary. That has provoked criticism, because Streuvels would have been too sympathetic to Germany. His granddaughter said: "That has all been refuted,because what did he do? He went to watch the war in Kortrijk with his bike, a bit like a journalist. He wanted to see, observe and display things in his writings. Germans were billeted with him, he wrote that those people were very polite and behaved decently. They said, "You see, he goes along with the Germans. But that can be said?".
- Streuvels was able to rise above the naturalism of the time, by embodying the universal idea in an almost symbolic writing style. His visionary literary strength has been compared with Van Gogh's expressive energy.
- Stijn Streuvels was a celebrity, much read, much lauded. But he didn't always like all that attention. Granddaughter Leentje Vandemeulebroecke: "We were drinking coffee on Sunday afternoon and they came back to the Lijsternest with three or four people looking at the window. My grandfather said: "Am I a monkey in a cage?".
- He moved with his wife and children to the villa Lijsternest (Trush's Nest), still today a unique spot in Flanders where writers can create literature in peace and quiet.
- Along with Cyriel Buysse and Felix Timmermans, Streuvels is one of Flanders' naturalistic novelists.
- Although he defined his chosen locality by precise reference to dialect and folklore, he was no mere chronicler. His keen powers of observation were enhanced by a rich imagination, a feeling for atmosphere, and a broad command of language. At his best he was a master of characterization, especially in his presentation of farmers and farm workers who obstinately struggle against the land and against destiny, as in Langs de wegen (1902; The Long Road) and his masterpiece, De vlaschaard (1907; The Flaxfield).
- He only gave up the bakery in 1905 to dedicate himself to literature when his reputation as an anticlerical and a freethinker began to damage the family business. West Flanders was then a bastion of clerical authority.
- He was a Belgian novelist and short-story writer whose works are among the masterpieces of Flemish prose.
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