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WALLOON LITERATIIRE

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 287 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WALLOON LITERATIIRE .—In See also:

medieval times various See also:local documents in See also:prose and See also:verse were written by inhabitants of See also:Liege and its See also:diocese in a See also:dialect of See also:French which contained many Walloon words and phrases. It is supposed that as See also:early as the 12th See also:century the See also:idiom of the See also:people may have been used in songs which are now lost, unless echoes of them are preserved in the curious Noels, partly in French, partly in See also:patois, which were orally collected by M. Doutrepont and published in 1888. Several Flemish See also:works in old French, containing Walloon expressions, and in particular the so-called Poeme moral of the 13th century, have been claimed as precursors of a local literature, but they are really to be considered as composed in French with a certain admixture of Liegeois phrases. The earliest existing specimen of pure Walloon literature is the See also:Ode in praise of Liege, dated 162o, and attributed to Mathias Navaeus; this was first printed in 18J7 in the transactions of the Societe Liegeoise. Except a few very See also:flat popular songs, there is nothing more until the end of the 17th century, when we find Lis Aiwes di See also:Tongue (The See also:Waters of Tongres), an amusing lyrical See also:satire on the pretensions of that See also:town to be considered a See also:Roman See also:spa. Fifty years later the opening of a popular See also:theatre at Liege led to the creation of a class of farces, written in Walloon; of these Li Voege di Chaudfontaine (The See also:Journey to Chaudfontaine) (1757), by See also:Jean See also:Noel Hamal, has considerable See also:humour and vigour in its rhymed See also:dialogue. Other successful comedies were Li Fiesse di Hoiite s'i plou, Li Ligeois egagi, and, above all, Lis Hypocondes, the liveliest specimen of old Walloon literature which has survived. This diverting See also:farce describes the adventures of a party of See also:mock-invalids, who pursue a See also:series of intrigues at a spa. This class of dramatic literature closed with Li See also:Malignant in 1789. In these early songs and plays the Walloon humour is displayed with See also:great crudity; anything like sentiment or elevated feeling is unknown. The Revolution of 1789 inspired numerous Liegeois patriots with popular songs; of these pasqueyes, as they are styled, Albin See also:Body collected more than 250, but they are almost entirely devoid of See also:literary merit.

Under their new See also:

government, Liege and See also:Namur allowed the See also:national patois to withdraw into thebackground, and it was not until the See also:middle of the 19th century that Walloon literature began seriously to be cultivated. Its only expression, for a See also:long See also:time, was in lyrical See also:poetry in the See also:form of satires and the humorous songs, called pasqueeyes and crdmignons. The earliest of the See also:modern Walloon writers was See also:Charles See also:Nicolas Simonon (1774-1847), who celebrated in Li Copa;ey.the See also:ancient See also:clock-See also:tower of the See also:cathedral of St See also:Lambert, an See also:object of reverence to the inhabitants of Liege. His poems were collected in 1845. See also:Henri See also:Joseph Forir (1784-1862) was the first See also:president of the Societe Liegeoise, and one of the protagonists of Walloon literature. He published a valuable See also:dictionary of the patois. The Cure C. E. E. Du Vivier de Streel (1799-1863) was the author of Li Pantalon trawe (The Torn Trowsers), a pasqueeye which still enjoys an enormous popularity among the Walloon See also:population. The first Walloon writer of high merit, however, was Nicolas Defrecheux (1825-1874), who is the most distinguished poet whom the patois has hitherto produced. His Leyiz-m' plorer (Let me cry), when it appeared in 1854, made a wide sensation, and was the earliest expression of what is serious and See also:tender in the Walloon nature.

His Chansons wallonnes appeared in 186o. Defrecheux stands almost alone among the Walloon poets as an artist and not merely an See also:

improvisatore. His poetical works were posthumously collected in 1877. For many years, in spite of the efforts of such scholars as MM. See also:Alphonse Le See also:Roy and H. Gaidoz, a See also:taste for Walloon literature remained strictly circumscribed, and was limited to a small circle of enthusiasts in Liege and Namur. In 1872 a literary See also:club was formed, entitled the Caveau Liegeois, and this gave a very great stimulus to the cultivation of the Walloon letters. The national See also:drama, which had been entirely neglected for more than a century, once more was called into existence through the exertions of the theatrical club, called See also:Les Wallons. The comedies of A. M. J. Delchef (b.

1835) were acted with success, and led the way for the most important patois dramatist that Liege has produced, Edouard Remouchamps (b. 1836), who is the author of Tdti l'Perriqui (1884), perhaps the most entertaining farce in Walloon, and certainly the most popular. Remouchamps was for See also:

thirty years a prolific writer of See also:short pieces fer the See also:stage, sentimental and farcical. After the success of this See also:play, according to an enthusiastic chronicler, " the writers of Wallonia became See also:legion." Their See also:style, however, was not greatly varied, and they have mainly confined themselves to songs, satirical lampoons and farces. The founder of the Societe Liegeoise was J. F. E. Bailleux (1817-186o), to whom the revival of an See also:interest in early Walloon literature is mainly due; in See also:con-junction with J. V. F. J. Dehin (1809-1871) he published a See also:translation of See also:Lafontaine into patois.

Among writers of the younger See also:

generation, See also:special See also:credit must be given to Henri See also:Simon (b. 1856), for his humoristic tales and sketches; to See also:Julien Delaite (b. 1868), for his amusing lyrics; and to Zephir Henin (b. 1866), for his prose, prose being much rarer than verse in Walloon. It would be possible to add very largely to this See also:list, but the most notable names have been mentioned. A certain monotonous fluency is the See also:fault of Walloon literature, which repeats its effects too constantly, and is confined within too narrow limits. A few writers, among whom Isidore See also:Dory (b. 1833) is prominent, have endeavoured to enlarge the See also:scope of the patois writers, but their suggestions have met with little response. When the Walloon writer desires to impart serious See also:information or deep feeling, he resorts to the use of French. The pasqueeye, which is the characteristic form of Walloon verse, is a See also:kind of semi-comic and extremely See also:familiar lyric, humorous and extravagant, a survival of the See also:influence of See also:Beranger on taste three-quarters of a century ago; the facility with which these songs are composed is betrayed by the enormous number of them which exist in Liege and Namur. The difficulties of Walloon literature are increased by the unfixed See also:character of its phonetic and often extravagant See also:orthography.

End of Article: WALLOON LITERATIIRE

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