From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Michel De Ghelderode (1898 - 1962) was an avant-garde Belgian dramatist, writing in French.

He was born as Adhémar-Adolphe-Louis Martens in Ixelles and married in 1924 to Jeanne-Françoise Gérard. He died in Brussels.

Among his influences are puppet theater and commedia dell'arte. His works often deal with the extremes of human experience, from death and degradation to religious exaltation. His 1934 play La Balade du grand macabre served as inspiration for György Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre.

Works

Plays

• La Mort regarde a la fenetre (1918)

• Venus (1927)

• Christophe Colomb (1927)

• Don Juan (1928)

• Barabbas (1928)

• Fastes d'enfer (1929)

• Pantagleize (1929)

• Magie rouge (1931)

• La Balade du grand macabre (1934)

• Mademoiselle Jaïre (1934)

• Hop Signor! (1935)

• Marie la misérable (1952)

• L'école des bouffons (1953)

• Les aveugles (1956)

Prose

• Sortilèges [Spells] (1941)
• La Flandre est un songe (1953)