Hugo Maurice Julien Claus (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦyɣoː ˈklʌus]; April 5, 1929 – March 19, 2008) was an important Belgian writer who published books using his real name and other names. His work included plays, novels, and poems. He also worked as a painter and film director. Most of his writing was in Dutch, but he also wrote some poems in English. He received the 2000 International Nonino Prize in Italy.
He died by euthanasia, which is allowed in Belgium. This caused a lot of discussion.
Life
Hugo Claus was born on April 5, 1929, at Sint-Janshospitaal in Bruges, Belgium. He was the oldest of four sons born to Jozef Claus and Germaine Vanderlinden. Jozef worked as a printer and also enjoyed theatre.
Hugo attended a boarding school run by nuns in Aalbeke. During World War II, he experienced the German occupation of Belgium, an event that deeply influenced him. This experience later inspired his semi-autobiographical book The Sorrow of Belgium (1983). Many of his teachers were Flemish nationalists who supported fascism, and Claus joined the pro-German youth group of the Flemish National Union. His father was briefly detained after the war for suspected collaboration with the enemy. Later in life, Claus supported the political left and admired the socialist system after visiting Cuba in the 1960s.
Claus became known in literary circles and published his first novel, De Metsiers, in 1950 at age 21. His first poems were printed by his father as early as 1947. He lived in Paris from 1950 to 1952, where he met members of the CoBrA art movement.
From February 1953 to early 1955, Claus lived in Italy, where his girlfriend, Elly Overzier (born in 1928), acted in films. They married on May 31, 1955, and had a son, Thomas, on October 7, 1963.
In the early 1970s, Claus had a relationship with actress Sylvia Kristel, who was 23 years younger. They had a son, Arthur, in 1975 and lived in Amsterdam. The relationship ended in 1977 when Kristel left Claus for actor Ian McShane.
Claus was described as a "contrarian" with an "anarchist spirit." He once organized a "Miss Knokke Festival" beauty contest where the all-male jury members had to be naked.
Hugo Claus was considered one of Belgium’s most important contemporary authors. He wrote the novel Schola Nostra (1971) under the pseudonym Dorothea Van Male. He also used other names, such as Jan Hyoens and Thea Streiner. His works De verwondering (1962) and Het verdriet van België (1983) are among his most significant.
Claus was most productive as a dramatist, writing 35 original plays and translating 31 works from English, Greek, Latin, French, and Spanish. His play Masscheroen featured an all-nude cast and made fun of religious figures. The play was criticized as blasphemous, leading to a legal case where Claus was fined and sentenced to prison. The sentence was later reduced to a suspended term due to public protests.
Claus also wrote the script for the satirical comic strip De Avonturen van Belgman (1967), which mocked Belgium’s language issues. He wrote satirical poems about Pope John Paul II’s 1985 visit to Belgium, titled Een Weerzinwekkend Bezoek.
Hugo Claus was often nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He once joked, "This prize money would suit me fine."
As a painter, Claus was part of the CoBrA art movement from 1950. He illustrated a book by Pierre Alechinsky in 1949 and worked with artists like Karel Appel and Corneille. He later wrote about this time in his book Een zachte vernieling (Mild Destruction).
Claus wrote the screenplay for the 1966 film De dans van de reiger (Dance of the Heron), adapted from his 1962 play. He directed seven films between 1964 and 2001, including Het sacrament, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990.
Claus had Alzheimer’s disease and chose to end his life through euthanasia, a legal process in Belgium, at Middelheim Hospital in Antwerp on March 19, 2008.
Bert Anciaux, then Flemish Minister of Culture, said, "I knew him well enough to know that he wanted to depart with pride and dignity." Former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt described Alzheimer’s as "inevitable and unbearable torture" but respected Claus’s decision, saying he "left us as a great glowing star."
Claus’s euthanasia received criticism from the Roman Catholic Church and the Belgian Alzheimer League. The Church criticized media coverage, and Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels mentioned it in an Easter speech. The Alzheimer League supported Claus’s choice but believed media coverage overlooked other options for patients.
Prizes
- 1950 – Leo J. Krynprijs [nl] for De Metsiers [nl]
- 1952 – Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord for De Metsiers
- 1964 – August Beernaertprize for De verwondering
- 1965 – Henriëtte Roland Holst-prize for all his plays
- 1967 – Edmond Hustinxprize for all his plays
- 1979 – Constantijn Huygens Prize
- 1985 – Cestoda-prize
- 1986 – Herman Gorterprize for Alibi
- 1986 – Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren
- 1994 – Prijs voor Meesterschap for his complete body of work
- 1994 – VSB Poetry Prize for De Sporen
- 1997 – Libris Prize for De Geruchten
- 1998 – Aristeion Prize for De Geruchten
- 2000 – International Nonino Prize for La sofferenza del Belgio