Mertens, Pierre

Mertens, Pierre

▪ Belgian author
born October 9, 1939, Brussels, Belgium

      Belgian novelist known for his novels about crucial public events written chiefly in a bold, direct style free of textual and philosophical complexity.

      Mertens is an international lawyer who remains a prominent figure in Belgian literary life. His first novel, L'Inde ou l'Amérique (1969; “India or America”), recaptures memories of a disillusioned and alienated childhood, as does the more elaborate La Fête des anciens (1971; “The Feast of the Ancients”). An autobiographical tone also marks his short story collections, Le Niveau de la mer (1970; “Sea Level”) and the sarcastic Nécrologies (1977; “Necrologies”). A soon-to-be familiar theme of defeat in public and private life emerges in his third novel, Les Bons Offices (1974; “The Good Offices”), a satire on Western intellectualism in which his Belgian hero Sanchotte, a Cervantean hybrid, finds himself caught between Europe and the Middle East. Terre d'asile (1978; “Land of Refuge”) is a rich, flowing metatext about the experiences of a Chilean refugee on the Belgian coast.

      In 1976 Mertens helped launch the concept of “belgitude” in an issue of the French magazine, Nouvelles Littéraires. This well-intentioned but ultimately limited concept, which advocates a self-confident Belgian literary identity as opposed to one subordinated to France, succeeded in focusing fresh attention for a time on the history and breadth of Belgian literature.

      Mertens's fundamental pessimism is evident in several of his later works, notably Les Éblouissements (1987; Shadowlight), which looks back to occupied Belgium in World War I; Lettres clandestines (1990), a brief meditation on the strengths of the novel as compared with biography; and Les Phoques de San Francisco (1991; “The Seals of San Francisco”). He published his first play, Flammes, in 1993. His novel Une Paix royale (1995; “A Royal Peace”) brought him several awards as well as a legal battle with Belgian royalty in France.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Mertens, Pierre — (1939 )    Born in Brussels, Pierre Mertens writes novels in which the city of his birth is featured. An essayist and literary critic as well as a writer, Mertens is a French language author for whom his native city arouses feelings of both… …   Historical Dictionary of Brussels

  • Mertens — (Pierre) (né en 1939) écrivain belge d expression française. Romancier du déracinement intime: l Inde ou l Amérique (1969), Terre d asile (1978), Ombres au tableau (1982), les éblouissements (1987), les Phoques de San Francisco (1991), une Paix… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Pierre Mertens — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Mertens. Pierre Mertens (né le 9 octobre 1939 à Bruxelles) est un écrivain belge de langue française, docteur en droit, spécialiste du droit international, directeur du Centre de sociologie de la… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mertens — may refer to: In places: Mertens, Texas, a US town People with the surname Mertens: Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer Franz Mertens, German mathematician Franz Carl Mertens, German botanist Jan Mertens, Dutch politician Jan Mertens the Younger,… …   Wikipedia

  • Pierre Mertens — (born October 9, 1939) is a Belgian French speaking writer and lawyer who specializes in international law, director of the Centre de sociologie de la littérature at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and literary critic with the newspaper Le… …   Wikipedia

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