Bruges-la-Morte: Georges Rodenbach

[poliphilo]

 Written in the 1890s- and very fin de siecle- very school of Huysmans- Bruges-la-Morte is yet another story about a man who kills a woman; and of course like all the other stories about men who kill women it's about him- not her- and the sufferings of his noble soul. More interestingly, it's a story about Bruges, with the man being a projection of the city or the city a projection of the man; take your pick. Rodenbach got people interested in Bruges- in his day a silted up port town full of gloomy catholics - and it's partly thanks to him that it's no longer Bruges-la-Morte but the cheery, cosmopolitan, tourist town we know today. 

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

One does not see the name Huysmans in print too often, these days. I have read his, Là-Bas. I should have assumed that I was one of a select few.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

La Bas is a terrific book- the only novel I've ever attempted to read in French.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I thought it a lot of fun. Was it better, in the original?

There was a time in my life when I contemplated learning German, just to read Herman Hesse.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

In the original it was hard work :)

I envy people with a gift for languages. I once contemplated learning Italian in order to read Dante. I didn't get very far.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

One of my professors at school spoke about eight languages. She was born in Germany and retained no hint of an accent. Her husband told me that, when they visited China, she picked up Mandarin in a matter of days. Must be nice.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

In my book, Rodenbach's a very nice beer... Shows how much I know.

Is this like a literary precedent for the film In Bruges?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the In Bruges, so I'm no idea.

One film that may well have been influenced by Bruges-la-Morte (in a roundabout way) is Hitchcock's Vertigo- which is based on a novel that borrows elements of Rodenbach's plot.