The Man Who Meant Well

This tragic novel, published in 1936, is set in rural northern Belgium and in Brussels. The central character, Thys Glorieus, is the son of a poor craftsman living in a district whose inhabitants are looked down on by the people of the local village. From a young age his mindset is governed by a desire to oppose injustice and this a recurring theme throughout his story. He works as a farmhand on a large farm nearby and Rosa, one of the daughters of the family there, becomes enfatuated with him in spite of the gap in class. After a dispute he leaves home and moves to Brussels in search of job. When old enough he joins the army and serves as a batman to a prosperous captain, who retains a personal interest in Thys after he leaves. The remainder of the novel resembles the tragic fiction of Thomas Hardy. An interesting device is the alternating narration between the conventional single narrator and the gossip merchants of the village — this reflects the importance of personal reputation within the community as a theme in the novel. An eight-part dramatisation of the novel appeared on British television in the summer of 1976.

The author, Gerard Walschap (born 9 July 1898), grew up in rural Brabant. Much influenced by the poet-priest Jan Hammenecker, he began training for the priesthood in Leuven but did not complete his studies. In 1923 he became editor of a Flemish weekly magazine. In the mid-twenties he wrote several plays and collections of poetry. His first novel was published in 1928 and he went on to write more than 30 novels in a long career. He received the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (the most prestigious Dutch-language literary award) in 1968.

The central character, Thys (rhymes with 'ice'), as a schoolboy was vehemently opposed to injustice and got into trouble for his dogged protection of the girls who were picked on after school. He even took umbrage during history lessons:
“He hated the Romans who conquered Belgium which wasn't theirs to take. The schoolmaster described the savage battles in the forests; the Belgians were so brave that they fought till there were hardly 50 out of 1,000 left. Thys put his hand up and asked, ‘What about those 50? What did they do?’
‘What could they have done except take to their heels, the battle was lost, the Romans were master.’
Thys snorted contemptuously at those 50 out of a 1,000 and had to swallow the bitter truth that injustice had prevailed. No matter how hard he argued that, after all, there ahd still been 50 of them, the schoolmaster shook his head with a smile and said, just like mother: that’s life.”