Spiegel der Letteren

O krancke troost!

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:31:17 GMT

In the last verse of Vondel�s �Uitvaert van mijn dochterken� the implied opposite of the homage offered by a playmate � considered by the poet as weak and short � is not the enduring sorrow of the father, as it is usually understood. The poem, which overcomes time, is itself the opposite. Following Horatius� Exegi monumentum aere perennius, Vondel found comfort in creating a lasting monument for his daughter. This reading is syntactically, semantically and prosodically plausible and results from the analysis of the last strophe. This is a consolatio in which the weakness of the funeral pomp (funerum magnificentia) is opposed to the strength of the poetical remembrance (memoriae decus). A comparable kind of consolatio is to be found in other epicedia by Heinsius and Vondel. That Vondel did not speak expressis verbis is the result of the discretion that the subject imposed on him.

Montage en netwerk

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:34:46 GMT

Literary scholars do not agree about the relationship between experimental �other prose� and postmodern fiction in the Netherlands and Flanders. This article contributes to the comparative study of other prose and the postmodern novel by focusing on two formal principles that play an important part in respectively other prose and the postmodern novel: montage and network. Montage implies that various scraps of texts and different types of text are juxtaposed, so as to break up the narrative structure. A network signifies that a number of textual elements are connected in a complex, rhizomatic structure, generating a surplus of meaning. Authors of other prose use montage to criticize the prevailing ideology and to attack the unity of the literary work. The network system implies a world view which leaves no room for an avant-garde outside position. This article discusses examples of montage and network taken from literary works by authors of other prose (Polet, Vogelaar, Van Marissing) and of postmodern prose (Ferron, Jongstra, Verhelst). At the end, a few counterexamples are discussed to qualify the main thesis of this article.

Literaire pseudonimiteit als samenspel van auteur en lezer

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:36:44 GMT

This article argues that pseudonymity is an interesting subject for research on authorship and authorial strategies, but also that pseudonymity reaches beyond questions of the authorial kind. It inevitably involves an interaction between author, text, context, and reader. In the first part of the article, pseudonymity is defined in terms of a �literary fact�. Starting from Foucault�s concept of the �author function� and Kripke�s linguistic philosophy on proper names, it appears that a pseudonym may generate a different author as long as the empirical author has previously published under a pseudonym or under his own name. In the second part, theories about authorial intentions, in particular Hans Vandevoorde�s ideas on this subject, are applied to pseudonymity. By studying the pseudonymity of the Dutch author Willem Frederik Hermans and ideas of Couturier and Compagnon on the author and the reader, it is shown that an additional category of authorial intention may be useful: implicit external intentions.

Spook spreekt een woordje terug

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:38:16 GMT

This article is a reply to J�rgen Pieters�s two contributions published earlier in Spiegel der Letteren 2005 and 2009. In those texts Pieters discussed the role of New Historicism in the study of Dutch historical texts. Compared to the innovative New Historicist methodology, the approach of the present author was said to be hopelessly out of date. The present article analyses Pieters�s arguments and tries to counter them.

Boekbeoordelingen

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:38:56 GMT

Book reviews