The Dying Peasant

Karel van de Woestijne

Translated by Paul Vincent

The Dying Peasant, a masterpiece of Flemish literature, and the work by which the symbolist writer Karel van de Woestijne is most remembered today, tells the story of the peasant Nand, and his last hours, when his mind turns inward, to a world of memory in which he is visited by a succession of figures representing his five senses, reminding him of the joys of his modest existence.

Originally published in 1918 and here made available in English for the first time in its unabridged form in a superb new translation by Paul Vincent, this novella, by one of Flanders’ greatest poets, is a work of profound beauty and humanity.

About the Author
Karel van de Woestijne (1878-1929) was perhaps the greatest twentieth-century poet in Flanders. Heavily influenced by French symbolism, he wrote numerous volumes of verse, as well as short stories and a novel. Today he is most remembered for  his novella The Dying Peasant, which was first published in 1918, and which is a classic of Dutch literature.

About the Translator
Paul Vincent studied at Cambridge and Amsterdam, and after teaching Dutch at the University of London for over twenty years became a full-time translator in 1989. Since then he has published a wide variety of translated poetry, non-fiction and fiction, including work by Achterberg, Claus, Couperus, Elsschot, Jellema, Mullisch, De Moor and Van den Brink. He is a member of the Society of Dutch Literature in Leiden, and has won the Reid Prize for poetry translation, the Vondel Prize for Dutch-English translation and (jointly) the Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize.

Paperback, 62 pages. Release date: September 18, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-1-94381-376-6

Price: US$11.00

To listen to the Review on Sherds Podcast click on the following link: The Dying Peasant – review