Maurice Maeterlinck

Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also known as Count Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911 "in appreciation of his many-sided literary activities, and especially of his dramatic works, which are distinguished by a wealth of imagination and by a poetic fancy, which reveals, sometimes in the guise of a fairy tale, a deep inspiration, while in a mysterious way they appeal to the readers' own feelings and stimulate their imaginations". The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life. He was a leading member of La Jeune Belgique group and his plays form an important part of the Symbolist movement. In later life, Maeterlinck faced credible accusations of plagiarism.

29 August 1862

Born on the same birth date (29 August 1862): Andrew Fisher

Born on the same birth day (29 August): Charles Townshend • David B. Hill • David Boaz • David West (basketball) • Deborah Van Valkenburgh • Heinrich von Bellegarde • Ian James Corlett • Jan Śniadecki • Jerry Bailey • Joel Schumacher • John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath • John of Artois, Count of Eu • Kristjan Rahnu • Stephen Carr • Werner Forssmann • Yakhouba Diawara

Born in the same month (August 1862): Andrew Fisher • Claude Debussy • Emilio Salgari • Henri Le Sidaner • Herbert Booth • Joseph Merrick • Victoria of Baden