In september 1998, the Albrecht Rodenbach library in Roeselare came into the news thanks to a remarkable find. An unknown poem by Guido Gezelle was discovered. It’s called Keerselucht, a poem written in pencil, signed with the initials G.G..

Tony Morren, head librarian gave following interview to Fabienne Kesteloot and Joke Vermandere

In September of last year we read in the press that there has been an important discovery in this library What was it about? Who made the discovery?

It involved four handwritings of Guido Gezelle that were found by our associate Peter Aspeslagh. On the third of August he came to me with these papers. He guessed that it could be important. He was probably a bit inspired by these mortuary cards and wondered if these could have anything to do with Guido Gezelle. One of the poems wears the signature of Guido Gezelle at the bottom.
The question was of course whether this was really a poem by Gezelle or not. Anyone may just copy a poem and put his signature underneath. I didn’t look at it right away, because I

I thought it was quite impossible that we would find more authentic pieces of Guido Gezelle. But as I read them I noticed that there were so many erasures in the poem. I don’t know the handwriting of Gezelle by heart, so I couldn’t decipher it right away. That was a first indication. When somebody copies a poem of Gezelle, you would expect that he or she makes very little mistakes, but not that he or she starts crossing out words.. Then I also compared with other manuscripts from Gezelle which have been published, and I compared the signatures. There are still a lot of questions, because it was the first I was confronted with manuscripts from Gezelle. I’ve always been interested in Gezelle but I’ve never spent any time on it. Then I asked the help of a few specialists. I took copies of these pieces and passed them on to Professor Boets. He could confirm more quickly than me that they belonged to Gezelle. He could tell this by studying the handwriting and the style of Gezelle. Also the erasures in blocks are typical for Gezelle.

Did this discovery take place by coincidence or were you doing something on Gezelle?

Actually we were asked to set up a stand about the works of Gezelle for the VTB-VAB walking-club on the 11th of July 1998. Books are exhibitioned that are not normally available to the public. As we locked them away Peter did the discovery. So that is a coincidence. The reason why we were occupied with Gezelle was because of the walking-club but also because we knew that Gezelle died 100 years ago.

Is this a valuable discovery?

It is. Of course the vision on Gezelle doesn’t change by this discovery. It only confirms what we all know.

What exactly have we found? It concerns three poems of which two are known. The third one Keerselucht was unknown. That one has been published now. Keerselucht is a playful poem in the same style as Boerke Naas that doesn’t dig deep into feelings. Why is this valuable? Because they are from Gezelle. I’m not trying to say that we should glorify his person, but Professor Boets says it’s a nice poem.
My conclusion is: the poem isn’t that great, but it shows the many sides of Gezelle. The two other poems have a special value too because it’s known that Gezelle writes more than one version of a poem. One poem is about Constance and is the second version of the poem. This means that certain things from the scrap version have disappeared but also that new things have been added. The other poem is a tribute to one of the ‘Katrientjes’ of Kortrijk. That is probably the very first version. We know there is a second and a third version as well. In this version he shows his source of inspiration, namely the Bible: The book of Proverbs, Chapter 6,verse 6 to 9. It wasn’t known yet that Gezelle had started the translation of the book. That is also an important fact. My conclusion is: it’s a valuable discovery, but it doesn’t change the vision on Gezelle.

Has it happened before that you made a unique discovery in this library?

No, it hasn’t. Three or four weeks ago we found another mortuary card that refers to Gezelle. In fact we should start to nose through all our old books. The mortuary card dates from 1858 and wears an epitaph by Guido Gezelle. There won’t be many of these mortuary cards. Every now and then we do find something but not of this nature

Could you tell us in what year the unknown poem was written?

We don’t know that. What we do know is that it goes back to his time in Kortrijk. The poem is from 1891, the tribute to Constance from 1896. How do I know that? The poem is about Keerselucht or Sente threse. This refers to saint Theresia from Avila who is celebrated on the 15th of October. On that day there was a keersebegieting in Kortrijk. That means that they started to work with candle light in the evening, and then they had a drink on it. That’s where Gezelle got his inspiration. In the last paragraph he mentions Natus. Natus was a kind of village idiot in Kortrijk. Actually,the man’s name was Edward. Even in Brugge they held Keersebegietingen. But that happened on another date.

So, none of these poems was written in Roeselare?

No. Professor Boets first thought that this poem was written in Roeselare. Another professor told me that it was surely from Kortrijk. I think he based himself upon the handwriting from Gezelle. I’m not familiar with the handwriting of Gezelle because I don’t see any evolution in it. But based on what I know now I can conclude it’s from Kortrijk.

The next issue of the magazine ‘Flanders’ is dedicated to Guido Gezelle. On the front page you’ll see the poem of Constance and also the death-mask of Gezelle in the background with his signature. In the magazine itself, the other poems will be photographicallly reproduced.

Mister Morren, thank you for this interview

Text and picture of the new poem