Alfons-Jozef was born in Antwerp to a baker's family. During secondary school, he developed a love for literature. He was quite restless, having various types of jobs in cities from Antwerp and Brussels to Rotterdam and Paris. During the First World War, he served as the secretary of a national food relief committee in Antwerp. After the war he started his own advertising agency, which he ran until his death.

Willem Elsschot died in Antwerp in 1960, receiving a national literary award posthumously. He is interred in the Antwerpen Schoonselhof.

For the translation of the titles, see the "Bibliography" section

Elsschot published poems in a magazine titled "Alvoorder". His writing took off while he worked in Rotterdam, where he wrote Villa des Roses (1913). His most famous work came in the 1920s and 1930s: Lijmen (1924), Kaas (1933), Tsjip (1934) en Het Been (1938).

Central themes in his work are business and family life. His style is characterised by detailed descriptions of surroundings and a mild cynicism. In his first books he works with the same characters, giving the readers a familiarity and a sketch of life in Antwerp during the 1930s. His characters Boorman an entrepreneur on one side (always looking for scams and opportunities like in the book Lijmen) and Frank Laarmans, a clerk, evolve through these books until Laarmans (in the very poetical, pensioen "pension"), in his later days finds himself going home. Retired. And goes out for the very last time before ending, very cynically, but satisfied... home.

Some lines of his poem Het Huwelijk/The Marriage (1933) are among the most cited poetry in the Dutch language. Willem Elsschot Willem Elsschot The often cited lines are:

"Maar doodslaan deed hij niet, want tussen droom en daadstaan wetten in de weg en praktische bezwaren,en ook weemoedigheid, die niemand kan verklaren,en die des avonds komt, wanneer men slapen gaat."

Translated (approximately, to keep rhyme):"But killing her he did not, for between dream and deedlaws and practicalities remain,and melancholy, which none can explain,which comes in the evening, when one goes to sleep."