Élisabeth van Rysselberghe

Élisabeth van Rysselberghe (15 October 1890 – 29 July 1980) was a Belgian translator. She was the daughter of Belgian painter Théo van Rysselberghe.

Élisabeth van Rysselberghe
Painting of Élisabeth by Théo van Rysselberghe, 1916
Born	(1890-10-15)15 October 1890 Brussels, Belgium
Died	29 July 1980(1980-07-29) (aged 89) Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Occupation	Translator
Spouse	Pierre Herbart ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1968)​
Children	Catherine Gide

Biography

Élisabeth van Rysselberghe was born on 15 October 1890 in Brussels, Belgium.^[1] She was the daughter of neo-impressionist painter Théo van Rysselberghe and his wife Maria Monnom.^[2] As a child, she became acquainted with André Gide, a close friend of her parents, and the two became good friends.^[3]

Élisabeth had an affair with Rupert Brooke when she was twenty years old, and by 1913 the two might have become lovers "in a complete sense".^[4] However, Brooke, who was involved also with other women,^[5] died during World War I.^[6]

After the war, in 1920, Marc Allégret, Gide's lover, fell in love with Élisabeth.^[6] The two had wanted a child, but the wish did not come true.^[6] In 1923, Élisabeth gave birth to a child, Catherine. The father was André Gide, who at the time was married, and recognised the child only after the death of his wife, adopting her in 1938.^[7] Élisabeth had wanted a child "at all costs",^[3] while Gide had passed her a note during a trip on the train with friends years before, where he explained that he could not bear to see her or himself childless.^[6][8] Eventually, Élisabeth married French journalist Pierre Herbart in 1931.^[9] After her marriage to Herbart, the friendship between the latter and Gide was upset.^[9] The two divorced in 1968.^[10]

She was an avid reader and an excellent translator.^[11] She translated Donald Windham and John Keats into French.^[12] She translated the Letters of John Keats with Charles Du Bos,^[13] including Quatre lettres inédites^[14] and Lettre à John Hamilton Reynolds.^[15] Van Rysselberghe is the French translator of Windham's The Dog Star (French: Canicule)^[16] and Emblems of Conduct (French: Emblèmes d'une vie).^[17] In 1953, her translation of Justin O'Brien's Les nourritures terrestres d'André Gide et les Bucoliques de Virgile was published.^[18]

She died on 29 July 1980 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.^[1]

Works

Author

• Lettres à la Petite Dame. Un petit à la campagne (juin 1924 – décembre 1926). Edited by Catherine Gide (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2000).

Translator

• Keats, John. The Letters of John Keats, with Charles Du Bos.
• Keats, John. Quatre lettres inédites in La Revue hebdomadaire, with Charles Du Bos (Paris: Plon, 1921).
• Keats, John. Lettre à John Hamilton Reynolds in Les Écrits nouveaux, with Charles Du Bos (Paris: Émile-Paul Frères, 1921)
• O'Brien, Justin. Les nourritures d'André Gide et les Bucoliques de Virgile (Boulogne-Billancourt: Editions de la Revue Pretexte, 1953).
• Windham, Donald. The Dog Star (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1954).
• Windham, Donald. Emblems of Conduct (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1968).

References

1. Association des amis d'André Gide, Université Paul Valéry. Centre d'études littéraires du XX. siècle. Section Andre Gide, Université de Lyon II. Unité d'études françaises (1997). Bulletin des amis d'André Gide. Section André Gide, Centre d'études littéraires du XX. siècle, Université de Montpellier III. p. 213. Retrieved 4 January 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Siepe, Hans T.; Theis, Raimund, eds. (1992). André Gide et l'Allemagne. Droste. ISBN 9783770009947. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
3. Devarrieux, Claire. "Le grand Gide et la Petite Dame". Libération. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
4. Delany, Paul (2015). Fatal Glamour – The Life of Rupert Brooke. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 122–338. ISBN 9780773582781. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
5. Caesar, Adrian (1993). Taking it Like a Man - Suffering, Sexuality, and the War Poets : Brooke, Sassoon, Owen, Graves. Manchester University Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780719038341. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
6. Caws, Mary Ann; Bird Wright, Sarah (1999). Bloomsbury and France - Art and Friends. Oxford University Press. p. 336. ISBN 9780198027812. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
7. Gide, André; Valéry, Paul; Fawcett, Peter (2009). Fawcett, Peter (ed.). Correspondance, 1890-1942. Gallimard. p. 929. ISBN 9782070122264. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
8. Galateria, Daria (19 February 2001). "ANDRE' GIDE Le passioni di un immoralista". La Repubblica. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
9. Schalk, David L. (2019). Roger Martin Du Gard - The Novelist and History. Cornell University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9781501743276. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
10. Moreews, Alain (2017). Pierre Herbart, cinématographes et colonies (1903 - 1974). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 9. ISBN 9782140041723. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
11. "Elisabeth Van Rysselberghe au siège en rotin". Christie's. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
12. Kellner, Bruce (1991). Donald Windham - A Bio-bibliography. Greenwood Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780313268571. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
13. Du Bos, Charles (1989). Qu'est-ce que la littérature?. L'Age d'homme. p. 74. ISBN 9782825129227. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
14. La Revue hebdomadaire - Volume 30, Issues 1-2. Plon, Nourrit & Cie. 1921. p. 89. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
15. Les Écrits nouveaux - Volume 7, Issues 1-4. Émile-Paul,fréres. 1921. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
16. "Canicule". Gallimard. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
17. Emblèmes d'une vie. Gallimard. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
18. Les nourritures terrestres d'André Gide et les Bucoliques de Virgile. WorldCat. OCLC 5174776. Retrieved 4 January 2022.