Georges Rodenbach

Born in Tournai and raised in Ghent where he was a schoolfriend of Maurice Maeterlinck, Rodenbach practiced law briefly before moving to Paris in 1888, becoming an intimate associate of Stéphane Mallarmé, Edmond de Goncourt, and Auguste Rodin.

In Bruges-la-Morte (1892), Rodenbach created an enduring archetype of the melancholic city as a living character intertwined with mourning and tragic obsession, later adapted into Erich Wolfgang Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt. He also published exquisite collections of symbolist poetry including Le Règne du Silence.