Virginie Loveling | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Virginie Marie Loveling 17 May 1836 |
| Died | 1 December 1923 (aged 87) Ghent, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Other names | W. E. C. Walter |
| Occupation(s) | children's writer, essayist, novelist, poet |
Virginie (Marie) Loveling (17 May 1836 – 1 December 1923) was a Flemish author of poetry, novels, essays and children's stories. She also wrote under the pseudonym W. E. C. Walter. She did write sentimentally early in her career but her later novels dealt with difficult subjects directly.
Virginie Loveling was born on May 17 in Nevele in East Flanders, Belgium.[1] She was the younger sister of Rosalie Loveling, also an author, with whom she co-wrote the more sentimental part of her work.[2] After the death of their father, Herman Loveling, the family moved to Ghent, where the sisters moved in circles of French-speaking, mainly anti-clerical intelligentsia before eventually returning to Nevele.
Together with her sister, she wrote realistic and descriptive poetry with a romantic undertone. They also published two collections of essays on rural communities as well as on city bourgeoisie.
After her sister's death in 1875, she wrote children's stories along with novels and essays[2] that paint a poignant picture of the era. With a noted intellectual and psychological angle, controversial subjects and women characters of some depth. Her approach to difficult subjects is direct and truthful, she is noted for her lack of metaphor.[1] She also co-authored Levensleer (1912), a humoristic take on Ghent's French-speaking bourgeoisie with her nephew Cyriel Buysse.
Official recognition followed with the novel Een dure eed (A Costly Oath) in 1891, which received the quinquennial prize for Dutch literature.[1]
Virginie Loveling died on 1 December 1923 in Nevele.[3]
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