Rodenbach, Albrecht

Albrecht Rodenbach was born on October 27, 1856 and was the eldest among 10 children. Father Julius Rodenbach (1824–1915) with his uncle Alexander Rodenbach (the founder of Rodenbach brewing) came from a German family from Andernach on the Rhine. Mother, Silvia de la Uttre (1834–1899), was a Walloon by birth and spoke French, but also spoke Dutch, spoken in the city of Roeselare. Albrecht was also a cousin of the French-speaking writer Georges Rodenbach , who brought the novel " Dead Brugge " to fame.

Albrecht's uncle, Pierre Rodenbach, fought in the army of Napoleon in a campaign against Russia , then against Napoleon in the army of William of Orange, and finally took part in an uprising against the Dutch in 1830. His uncles Alexander and Konstantin were in 1830 among the first elected to the National Congress. His father's brother was a Flemish political propagandist, Felix Rodenbach. From early childhood, father and uncle brought up the nationalist spirit in Albrecht.

Rodenbach was also brought up in the spirit of Catholicism . He studied at the Klein Seminarie church seminary in Roeselare, where he was subject to the ideas of the Flemish literature movement, Hugo Verista, and others. On July 28, 1875, his interest in the Flemish literary movement led to a clash with the francopile director. At the annual song festival, students traditionally sang French songs, and Rodenbach sang a song in Dutch with some other students in protest. The so-called “Groote Stooringe” (“Great Thrill”) was followed by a wave of similar protests in Belgium. However, in 1876 Rodenbach successfully graduated from high school. Among his teachers in the seminary were Gustaf Flamin, and even Hugo Verister, who called Rodenbach “a poet, a soul, a heart, a brain, a word of the reborn Flemish”.

Rodenbach wrote poems, prose and dramatic works. He spread the Flemish identity and founded numerous student unions and theater groups. Like many other young people at that time, he joined the Papal Zouavas , the army that was supposed to defend Pope Pius IX against Giuseppe Garibaldi . But in the end he did not have to fight.

After he graduated from high school, he entered the Catholic University of Leuven at the Faculty of Law, where he met the poet Paul de Montom. Together they spread the ideals and ideas of the acquired Flemish consciousness among students. They fought for the equal rights of French-speaking and Dutch-speaking students and in 1876 created the "Association of All Flemish Students." Among their goals were lessons in the Dutch language and lessons about the Flemish culture. The illustrated magazine of the association "Het Pennoen" ("pennant") anonymously published Rodenbach's essay. The association's ideology was a combination of Guido Geselelet's philosophy, Hendrik Consignes' romantic nationalism, and the righteousness of the true faith. Rodenbach and de Mont called their student movement “Blauwvoeterie” (the nationalist student movement in West Flanders) from the name of the petrel bird (blauwvoet), whose flight announces an approaching storm. The slogan of the movement is “Vliegt de blauwvoet, storm op zee!” (When the petrel flies, storm at sea!). Rodenbach compared the association with the German movement "Burschenschaften".

Albrecht Rodenbach died on June 23, 1880 in the town of Roeselare from tuberculosis . Many generations of Flemish saw in the poet "the Flemish of the highest quality." Priest Cyril Wershawa even took advantage of the image of Rodenbach in his speech in 1941, in which he put the militancy of Rodenbach and the military participation of Nazi Germany in World War II at one stage. After the death of Rodenbach, the student association office was transferred to Paul de Montou.

In 1876, Albrecht Rodenbach wrote several essays under the pseudonym "Harald". Two years later, in 1878, the collection of his poems “The First Poems” (Eerste gedichten) was published. Rodenbach considered the theater as an ideal means to stimulate the revival of Flemish literature. He wanted to write a dramatic cycle that would describe the entire history of mankind. In 1878, he wrote the first part, “Gudrun”. The play combines the themes of nationality and love. He completed only two plays of the cycle until his death in 1880.

The song "Clouds" to the poems of the poem "The Dream" in the translation of Evgeny Vitkovsky is heard during the credits of the film " Treasure Island " (1982), directed by Vladimir Vorobyov . Sparrows performed the same song in the play “Night in Venice”, staged on the stage of the Leningrad Academic Theater of Comedy named after N. P. Akimov.

The quality of the works of Rodenbach is very different. An unfinished poem and elegant romantic lyricism alternate. Due to his early death, he had no opportunity to bring his work to the European level, not only in terms of themes, but also in terms of style. However, after his death, he became a symbol of the revival of Flemish literature and Flemish consciousness.

• The film "Treasure Island" on the site "Around TV"
• ALBRECHT RODENBACH - BIOGRAPHY
• Rodenbach, Albrecht on Schrijversgewijs
• Scheltjens, W. (2003). Bibliografija niderlandskoj literatury na russkom jazyke. St.-Petersburg: Aleteja.