Bart Van Lierde

Bart Van Lierde (1974) is a Flemish author. He has written several novels and thrillers, and also a Dutch version of the non-fiction book Een bestseller schrijven voor Dummies (Writing a bestseller for Dummies). Bart studied jazz singing at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and has written several songs and theatre plays.

The Polish author Witold Gombrowicz states in his Diary 1953 - 1969 that in the 19th century composers have modernised the classical music in order to be in the spotlight, but the public lost interest as the music lost its natural form and sound. Van Lierde reflects this opinion in his two historical novels: the deformed protagonist in Violist van de duivel (Violinist of the devil) uses his musical inventiveness to gain the acceptance of the people, while in Een sprong naar de hemel (A jump to heaven), two musical brothers struggle against each other for the love of their parents.

According to J.R.R. Tolkien, literature has several levels; the highest level is a fictional story set in a fictional world. In his diary Gombrowicz advises writers to exaggerate situations in order to give them symbolic proportions. Influenced by both authors, Van Lierde studied the biographies of classical composers, made a personal mix of the most fascinating parts and exaggerated all situations and relationships, resulting in his two historical novels. Inappropriately Van Lierde was given De Slechte Seks Prijs (The Bad Sex Prize) by the TV magazine HUMO for a scene from Een sprong naar de hemel, in which the protagonist, who has an incestuous relationship with his mother, tears out the womb of his brothers fiancé and devours it.

In his youth novel De dief met duizend gezichten (The thief with a thousand faces), Van Lierde uses the structure that characterizes most films of Alfred Hitchcock; the main character, though innocent, becomes the accused. He then flees from the police in order to find the culprit. But as he’s tailing the real offender, he’s seen in places where more crimes occur. The police try to shoot him rather than capture him, and the real offender also becomes a threat because he wants to avoid capture. The content of this youth book was inspired by the books of Marten Toonder about Tom Puss and Mr. Bumble; Van Lierde creates a similar imaginary world. The story is situated in historic Venice, all the characters behave in a modern manner, and the protagonist has a ‘stone eater’ as a pet; a beast that gets stolen by a crook to bite a hole in the wall of the treasury room of the San Marco Basilica.

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