Belgium's greatest contemporary author Hugo Claus decided that he could no longer live with the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. By Rob Kievit

Hugo Claus (1929-2008)

Claus, the giant of Flemish literature, died on Wednesday in an Antwerp hospital at the age of 78. His publisher says he chose the time of his own death by requesting euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium.

Hugo Claus is considered one of the most important contemporary Dutch language authors. His most famous work is The Sorrow of Belgium, which he wrote in 1983. The book is based on Claus' experiences as a boarding school pupil in the 1940s. In 1986, Hugo Claus was awarded the Dutch Literary Prize for his complete works.

Poet, writer, painter, director

He was often mentioned as a potential candidate for the Nobel Prize for literature, but was never actually awarded the prize and gave up hope of ever winning it. Hugo Claus also painted, wrote poetry, plays and film scripts, and directed plays and films. He once said that if he had been born in a country with a cinematographic tradition, he would almost certainly have become a film director rather than a literary author.

In an interview he told Radio Netherlands Worldwide,
"First and foremost I am a poet. I write poetic plays, poetic novels. But don't equate poetic with lyrical. It is not the yearning for the stars or for one's loved one. It is a way of seeing. The poetic aspect is a vision, having the effect of transforming reality, changing it into something else, running in parallel to the actual reality."

Prime Minister's tribute

Coincidentally, Hugo Claus died on the very day that one of Belgium's longest political crises came to an end. In an impressive tribute, Belgium's outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt wrote:

  "I don't know anyone who failed to be impressed by his words. He never failed to leave an indelible trace on those who met him. Hugo Claus was a gifted author who challenged heaven, until age polished him into a chunk of marble that invites you to lean or rest on it. That is what I've been privileged to do for over ten years.

"His knowledge, his phenomenal memory for facts and for names, of boxers and movie stars, and ranging from Montaigne quotations to Apollinaire's poetry, it all remained readily available and undamaged to the very last day.

"But being aware that you forgot what happened five minutes ago, confusing day and night; no longer being able to distinguish morning, afternoon or evening; seeing your glass of wine or your cup of coffee fall from the table edge and splash into smithereens; no longer knowing how to take a step, to put one foot before the other - all of that is not really important for a writer. They're just puny details.
So that is not what mattered to him. But hardly being able to merge his words into clear phrases, creating appropriate expressions and metaphors, things which for God's sake hadn't cost him any trouble over the past sixty years - that inability had, I think, become an inescapable and unbearable torment for him."

(published in De Morgen daily, 19 March 2008)

Dutch Minister of Culture Dr Ronald Plasterk did not immediately issue a statement on the author's death.

Man of the people
Fellow author and friend Remco Campert praised Claus' literary knowledge, which he allowed to filter through into his works without becoming conspicuous. The writer's harsh criticism of the Roman Catholic church was much debated, as was his criticism of the attitude of Belgium's leaders during World War II. But, Campert says, the people did not mind:

"He was a man of the people, who enjoyed playing his game of something or other in the pub, just like any man. He never ever complained about a lack of appreciation of his work."

Remco Campert was with Claus shortly before his death. He says,
"Despite the Alzheimer he was at times very lucid. We were both aware that this was our last encounter."

Hugo Claus leaves a number of ex-wives, including Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, and two sons.

20 March 2008 

[Copyright Radio Netherlands]