“Open letters to Belgian writers” (1952-1988) by Roger Avermaete: French-speaking considerations by an Antwerp author on book policy in Belgium

From 1952 to 1988, Roger Avermaete published and sent out, at his own expense, a quarterly “Lettre ouverte aux Écrivains de Belgique”. As in his Petite fresque des Arts et des Lettres dans la Belgique d’aujourd’hui (1929), but for more than thirty-five years, Avermaete commented on the “system” of Belgian letters.
In the 1950s, Roger Avermaete deplores the state’s support for boring French-speaking authors. What’s more, many measures are aimed at France: paid stays for Belgian authors, sub-sidies to publisher Pierre Seghers to include Belgians in the “Poètes d’aujourd’hui” collection, and so on. Meanwhile, he sees the rise of nationalism, both communitarian and linguistic. He also compares the system of French-speaking literature to that of Flemish literature, and can’t help but notice the gap between them. The demands and actions of the Vereniging van Vlaamse Letterkundigen, in particular, catch his attention for what they mean for the status of writers, in terms of recognition of their work and their “independence”. These are not followed by the As-sociation des Écrivains Belges (AEB) and the Académie (ARLLFB), which are more inclined towards aristocratic behavior.
Based on this little-known corpus, I would like to examine, from a comparative perspec-tive with Flanders, the transition between two states of book policy in the south of the country: 1) firstly, the system of a “nation of poets” administered by the Académie (“Fonds des Lettres”) and by the “Service des Lettres” of the Ministry of Public Instruction; 2) secondly, the system of the French Community of Belgium. Avermaete, a French-speaking writer from Antwerp who was nostalgic for a unitary Belgium, offers a valuable account of this pivotal period, of crucial importance in the relationship between French and Flemish literature in Belgium, and of the transfers that exist between them.