MERTENS, PIERRE

(1939- )

Born in Brussels, Pierre Mertens writes novels in which the city of his birth is featured. An essayist and literary critic as well as a writer, Mertens is aFrench-language author for whom his native city arouses feelings of both attachment and repulsion. Descriptions of the city are given in detail in his novelLes éblouissements(The bedazzlements [1987]). He won the Prix Medic n 1987.