Background
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder was born on May 7, 1882, in Antwerp, Arrondissement of Antwerp, Belgium, to a baker's family. His father's name was Adela van Elst.
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Nationalestraat 5, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium
Alphonsus studied at the Higher Institute of Business Science (now Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts), where, in 1904, he received a certificate in business, consular, and colonial science.
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder
In 1994, a bronze statue was erected at Mechelplein in Antwerp in honor of Elsschot.
Van Maerlantstraat 30, 2060 Antwerpen, Belgium
Elsschot studied in Antwerp at the Antwerp Municipal School on Van Maerlantstraat (now Stedelijke Basisschool Omnimundo).
(When the ambitious but inept clerk Frans Laarmans is offe...)
When the ambitious but inept clerk Frans Laarmans is offered a job managing an Edam distribution company in Antwerp, he jumps at the chance, despite his professed dislike for cheese in all its forms. He soon finds himself submerged in a bureaucratic nightmare as his complete incompetence becomes apparent. Meanwhile, his offices fill up with a seemingly infinite supply of the distinctive red-skinned cheeses, which he has no idea how to sell.
https://www.amazon.com/Cheese-Willem-Elsschot/dp/1846884160/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Willem+Elsschot&qid=1598604945&sr=8-1
1933
Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder was born on May 7, 1882, in Antwerp, Arrondissement of Antwerp, Belgium, to a baker's family. His father's name was Adela van Elst.
Elsschott studied in Antwerp at the Antwerp Municipal School on Van Maerlantstraat (now Stedelijke Basisschool Omnimundo). At sixteen, he expelled from school and later entered the Higher Institute of Business Science (now Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts), where, in 1904, he earned a certificate in business, consular, and colonial science.
After working for a South American businessman in Paris, Elsschot moved to the Netherlands and worked for various businesses. In 1911 he went back to Belgium and worked as a bookkeeper in Brussels until the beginning of World War I. From 1912, de Ridder also worked for the magazine La Revue Continentale Illustrée: Industry, Finance, Commerce, Education, under the guidance of his friend Jules Valenpint, who was the model for Burman character in the novel Lijmen/Het been, in which La Revue Continentale was renamed as "General World Magazine for Finance, Commerce, Industry, Arts and Science." This magazine went bankrupt during World War I due to economic conditions. During World War I, Elsschot was the secretary of the National Aid and Food Committee in Antwerp. After the war, he founded his own advertising agency, which he continued to run until his death.
Elsschot began writing poetry in 1900, but his poems did not appear in book format until 1934, with the publication of Verzen van Vroeger. He also wrote several novels, which were poorly received by critics. Perhaps as a result of this, and as a result of his knowledge of business practices, Elsschot became cynical, and this attitude is reflected in his characters. For example, in Villa des Roses, published in 1913, the main characters are a cynical border, Grünewald, and a sweet maid, Louise, who both live in a boarding house where everyone is lonely and depressed.
In the semi-autobiographical Een ooutgoocheling, written in 1914 and published in 1921, Elsschot tells the story of a boy whose father wants him to become a lawyer. In 1934 Elsschot was "discovered" by Jan Greshoff and Menno ten Braak, who published ten of his poems in their literary magazine Forum. This success encouraged Elsschot to resume writing after a ten-year hiatus, and within a month he finished a novel, Kaas. In this book, Laarmans fails at his wholesale cheese business because he is too honest.
Over the years, he was also in the business of displaying advertisements on the side walls of kiosks in hundreds of train stations in Belgium.
(When the ambitious but inept clerk Frans Laarmans is offe...)
1933
Quotations:
"I am not only disgusted with advertising but commerce in general. And I wrote to Lijmen because I needed to get rid of her somehow. I advertise because I can never live on a pen."
"I had to work in advertising; I couldn't live from my pen alone."
Elsschot was described as a tough businessman, but also a sensitive, dreamy poet, who warmly sympathized with those suffering from illness, old age, loneliness, or poverty. He pointed with sarcasm to the weak spots in a capitalistic society, represented by his character Boorman, for whom money is more important than happiness.
Quotes from others about the person
"Elsschot, a superb stylist, is one of the best of tough-tender European novelists of his time." - Martin Seymour-Smith
Alphonsus was married to Fine de Ridder. Elsschot had a daughter, Ida de Ridder.
Elsschot was not so careful with marital fidelity, for example, between 1946 and 1951 he had a relationship with the poet Liane Bruilants. According to her, he still had a relationship with an unknown woman.