Fernand Crommelynck

Born Nov. 19, 1888, in Paris; died Mar. 18, 1970, in St. Germaine-en-laye, the department of Seine-et-Oise. Belgian dramatist. Wrote in French.

Crommelynck’s early works showed the influence of symbolism. E. Verhaeren, his literary mentor, recommended Crommelynck’s play The Sculptor of Masks (1908) to his Russian friends, and K. D. Balmont published it in translation in the journal Vesy (Scales) in 1909. It was later performed in French in 1911. Crommelynck’s most important work is the comedy The Splendid Cuckold (1921; Russian translation by I. A. Aksenov, staged by V. E. Meyerhold in 1922, published 1926), a tragic farce that ridicules jealousy. The characters in his other plays are tragic fools who embody the “eternal” principles of love, jealousy, and miserliness. Crommelynck’s play Gold in the Guts (staged 1925, published 1930; Russian translation by Aksenov, staged 1926) is a grotesque satire on avarice.