Plisnier, Charles

Plisnier, Charles

▪ Belgian author
born December 13, 1896, Ghlin-les-Mons, Belgium
died July 17, 1952, Brussels

      Belgian novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist noted for his intense, analytical writing.

      Plisnier was active in leftist politics in his youth. Although trained as a lawyer, he wrote for several left-wing periodicals until he was ejected from the Communist Party he had helped to found. After disavowing communism, he became a Roman Catholic and turned to literature, establishing his reputation with family sagas notable for their sustained critique of bourgeois society. Mariages (1936; Nothing to Chance) deals with the limitations of social conventions; the five-volume Meurtres (1939–41; “Murders”) centres on an idealistic tragic hero, Noël Annequin, in his fight against hypocrisy; and the three-volume Mères (1946–49; “Mothers”) represents a search for order and redemption.

      Vivid and challenging if sometimes loose in style, his fiction conveys a deep moral and psychological sense in its studies of individual crisis. The novel L'Enfant aux stigmates (1931; “The Child With Stigmata”) recalls the fatalistic mood of Maurice Maeterlinck (Maeterlinck, Maurice). Plisnier won the Prix Goncourt for Faux passeports (1937; Memoirs of a Secret Revolutionary) and was the first non-French writer to do so. This set of five novellas about disillusioned militants uses one of his favourite techniques: a first-person witness as a screen between hero and reader. Plisnier's shorter works, such as Figures détruites (1932; “Destroyed Figures”), Beauté des laides (1951; “The Beauty of Ugly Women”), and Folies douces (1952; “Sheer Madnesses”), often surpasses his epic fiction in intensity.

      Plisnier's heartfelt poetry is at least the equal of his fiction. His early work shows his struggle to reconcile politics and religion, as in Prière aux mains coupées (1930; “Prayer With Severed Hands”), and includes a flirtation with Surrealism, in Fertilité du désert (1933; “Fertility of the Desert”). With Odes pour retrouver les hommes (1935; “Odes to Meet Again With Men”) Plisnier began a movement back to Christianity and conventional poetry that he continues in Sacré (1938; “Holy” or “Sacred”) and Ave Genitrix (1943; “Hail Mother”). His essays range in content from revolutionary mysticism to constitutional reform.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Plisnier, Charles-Marius-Fernand — (1896 1952)    A French language poet, novelist, and essayist, Charles Plisnier was born at Glin in the province of Hainault on 13 December 1896. He spent his childhood in Mons and studied law at the Université libre de Bruxelles, where he… …   Historical Dictionary of Brussels

  • Charles Plisnier — (Ghlin, près de Mons, 13 décembre 1896 Bruxelles, 17 juillet 1952) est un poète, essayiste et militant belge qui, dans ses œuvres de non fiction, s est longuement exprimé sur la Wallonie. Il était l oncle de l écrivain Charles …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Plisnier — Charles Plisnier (* 13. Dezember 1896 in Ghlin bei Mons; † 17. Juli 1952 in Brüssel) war ein französischsprachiger belgischer Schriftsteller und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke (Auswahl) 3 Drehbuch …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Charles Plisnier — (1896 – 1952) was a Belgian writer from Wallonia. He was a Communist in his youth and briefly belonged to the Trotskyist movement in the late 1920s. He disavowed communism, and became a Roman Catholic, remaining nevertheless a Marxist. He turned… …   Wikipedia

  • Plisnier — (Charles) (1896 1952) écrivain belge d expression française: Figures détruites (1932), Mariages (1936), Faux Passeports (prix Goncourt 1937), Meurtres (cycle romanesque, 1939 1941), Mères (cycle romanesque, 1946 1950). Ces romans protestent… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Charles Plisnier — (* 13. Dezember 1896 in Ghlin bei Mons; † 17. Juli 1952 in Brüssel) war ein französischsprachiger belgischer Schriftsteller und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke (Auswahl) 3 Drehbuch …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Charles Plisnier — (1896 1952) fue un escritor belga de Valonia. Fue un comunista en su juventud y perteneció brevemente al movimiento trotskista a finales de los años veinte. Después desconoció el comunismo, se convirtió en católico, pero siguió siendo un marxista …   Wikipedia Español

  • Plisnier —   [plis nje], Charles, belgischer Schriftsteller französischer Sprache, * Ghlin (bei Mons) 13. 12. 1896, ✝ Brüssel 17. 7. 1952; wurde 1919 Kommunist, 1928 als Trotzkist aus der belgischen KP ausgeschlossen, wandte sich 1939 dem Katholizismus zu;… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Charles Bertin — (né le 5 octobre 1919 à Mons et mort le 21 octobre 2002 à Rhode Saint Genèse) est un écrivain belge, élu membre de l Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique en 1967. Il était le neveu de l écrivain… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Charles Bastien — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bastien. Charles Bastien est un homme politique socialiste wallon du POB. Charles Bastien est négociant en mercerie, avec ses frères Gustave et Arthur, il fonde en 1890 le Cercle socialiste de Mons. Représentant… …   Wikipédia en Français

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