Member Article

Balmoral International Group | Luxembourg Reviving Literature

As a lover of words and writer myself, I became attached to Luxembourg that I wrote blogs and articles about it. Balmoral International Group has been the medium for me to share my experience with my fellow lovers of Luxembourg. As I continue to research about the place, I tried to find some reviews on the Grand Duchy as well. Much to my dismay though, there are little accounts of literature in Luxembourg recorded. It may not be because there are no writers in this country but because of the history of the place, precious works of art may have been misplaced or claimed by other nationalities who occupied the Grand Duchy in the times of war. However, though, with the help of my fellow colleague from Balmoral International Group Luxembourg, we have found some evident researches in the great minds of Luxembourgish writers and found the revival of their literature to some extent.

The year 1985 represented a milestone in Luxembourg’s recent literary history. 1985 is the year whe Guy Rewenig’s first novel (in Lëtzebuergesch) Hanner dem Atlantik appeared. This book, which was followed by a number of substantial novels in Lëtzebuergesch written by this author, was described by Jul Christophory as being “a fully mature novel with a deeper psychological and social content, representing an achievement for which Luxembourg literature had had to wait for a long time”. In Rewenig’s wake after 1988 came a large-scale trilogy with an autographical basis by Roger Manderscheid, comprising the novels schacko klak, de papagei um käschtebam and feier a flam. Both authors received great public acclaim for these books, reaching unusually high sales for the limited size of the market in Luxembourg, some of which were followed by several re-editions. During the following decade, further epic works in Lëtzebuergesch were published that would hardly have been conceivable without Rewenig’s and Manderscheid’s pioneering works. These include Frascht (1990) by Nico Helminger, Angscht virum Groussen Tunn (1992), stories by Jean-Michel Treinen (b. 1954), Perl oder Pica (1998), a novel by Jhemp Hoscheit (b. 1951), Iwwer Waasser (1998), a novel by Georges Hausemer, and a number of novels written in Lëtzebuergesch by Josy Braun (e.g. Porto fir d’Affekoten,1997, and Kréiwénkel, 1998).

During this phase, there was a renaissance of francophone literature in Luxembourg. Jean Portante played a significant part in this with his novel about immigrants, entitled Mrs Haroy ou La mémoire de la baleine (1993). Suddenly beside and after the authors who had already been writing in French for some time, such as Edmond Dune (1914-1988), Anise Koltz, who had meanwhile switched from writing in German to writing in French, Lambert Schlechter, Rosemarie Kieffer (1932-1994) and José Ensch (b. 1942), younger colleagues appeared like Félix Molitor (b. 1958) and Danielle Hoffelt (b. 1963), experimenting with new contents and forms.

Source: http://www.balmoralinternationalgroup.org/luxembourg-reviving-literature/#sthash.JPpR30tJ.dpuf

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jojo Trillo .