Historical Figure
Maurice Maeterlinck
1862–1949
Belgian playwright and essayist (1862–1949)
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Biography
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911 "in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations". The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life. He was a leading member of the group La Jeune Belgique, and his plays form an important part of the Symbolist movement. In later life, Maeterlinck faced credible accusations of plagiarism.
In Their Own Words (5)
Don't be alarmed … They are a little annoyed because Spring is late... Leave it to me; I will settle it all.
The Cat , 1908
Never mind... Don't cry... I will catch him again... [Stepping to the front of the stage and addressing the audience.] If any of you should find him, would you be so very kind as to give him back to us?... We need him for our happiness, later on...
Tyltyl , 1908
He's not quite blue yet, but that will come, you shall see! … Take him off quick to your little girl...
Tyltyl , 1908
Thanks to the labors of a science which is comparatively recent, and more especially to the researches of the students of Hindu and Egyptian antiquities, it is very much easier today than it was not so long ago to discover the source, to ascend the course and unravel the underground network of that great mysterious river which since the beginning of history has been flowing beneath all the religions, all the faiths, and all the philosophies: in a word, beneath all the visible and everyday manifestations of human thought. It is now hardly to be contested that this source is to be found in ancient India. Thence in all probability the sacred teaching spread into Egypt, found its way to ancient Persia and Chaldea, permeated the Hebrew race, and crept into Greece and the north of Europe, finally reaching China and even America.
in The Great Secret) (Niranjan Shah, Indian Origins of Ancient Civilizations, International Vedic Vision Foundation, New York, 2011, p.4. Quoted from Stephen Knapp, Mysteries of the Ancient Vedic Empire , 2011
I know that you are looking for the Blue Bird, that is to say, the great secret of things and of happiness, so that Man may make our servitude still harder. … I do not hear the Animals... Where are they?... All this concerns them as much as us... We, the Trees, must not assume the responsibility alone for the grave measures that have become necessary... On the day when Man hears that we have done what we are about to do, there will be terrible reprisals... It is right, therefore, that our agreement should be unanimous, so that our silence may be the same...
The Oak , 1908
Timeline
The story of Maurice Maeterlinck, told in moments.
Pelleas et Melisande premieres. A Symbolist play where almost nothing happens on the surface. Debussy turns it into an opera. It becomes the foundation for an entire movement in theater and music. Stage directions as important as dialogue.
Publishes The Life of the Bee, a study of beehive behavior that becomes an unexpected bestseller. He writes about bees like a philosopher watching a civilization. The book goes through dozens of editions. He keeps bees for the rest of his life.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The committee cites his "many-sided literary activities, and especially his dramatic works." He's 49. Belgian. Almost unknown outside literary circles. Inside them, he's a giant.
Dies in Nice, France, at 86. He'd spent the war years in the United States, returned to a changed Europe. His plays are rarely performed now. Debussy's Pelleas is still staged worldwide.
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