Spiegel der Letteren

In memoriam Elrud Ibsch

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:32:59 GMT

Obituary

Komt het Deventer Liederenhandschrift wel uit Deventer?

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:33:44 GMT

Ms. germ. oct. 185 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek � Preußischer Kulturbesitz) is the signature of a small, paper manuscript that is commonly known as the Deventer Song Manuscript. It is one of the most important sources of the late medieval devout song in the Low Countries, containing 92 song texts, some of which have been provided with melody references. Since the capital study of J.A.N. Knuttel (1906), the origin of the manuscript has been situated in the city of Deventer, where Sisters of the Common Life lived together in the Lamme van Diesen House. However, a reconsideration of the available material suggests the city of Zwolle to be the place of both origin and possession of the manuscript. This article therefore argues that the manuscript should be situated in the sister communion known as the �Kinderhuis� in Zwolle.

Boer Battus versus Wim uit Parijs

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:36:00 GMT

In 1987 Willem Frederik Hermans and Hugo Brandt Corstius started to polemicize about the writer Multatuli. This polemic would, in varying intensity, continue until 1995, the year of Hermans�s death. In this article I describe the evolution of this polemic. Using a theoretical model by J�rgen Stenzel, I point at some rhetorical strategies that can influence the course of a polemic. Moreover, I argue that the role of the polemical authority, i.e. journalists, critics, other writers, readers etc. who follow, comment upon and evaluate the polemic, is fundamental to its course and outcome: within a polemic, it is of crucial importance who is said to be right, not who is right. By framing the analysis in a more institutional approach and within a broader historical context, I argue that factors not directly related to the polemic itself are nevertheless important in the scholar�s analysis and interpretation.

Harry Mulisch en het narcistische schrijven

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:37:37 GMT

Metafiction is a core aspect of the work of Harry Mulisch, both in terms of frequency and poetical meaning. This essay analyses the content and form of metafiction in the oeuvre of this writer. Linda Hutcheon�s typology can help to reveal that in Mulisch�s diegetic and linguistic metafiction the creative potential of literature is foregrounded. An approach based on three theoretical perspectives provides us with a framework to clarify this observation. Seen from a postmodern angle, it turns out that in Mulisch�s work language does not have a problematic status, since it is considered as a creative medium. A second analysis, based on the modernist model of the self-begetting novel, shows that narrative structures are substantial for the literary autocreation, which is a typical feature of Mulisch�s poetics. The gnostic doctrines, which constitute the third approach in this article, prove to have influenced both content and form of Mulisch�s metafiction and allow his literary language to enter mystical realms. The features of the three concepts discussed here overlap in many ways. In Mulisch�s writing, therefore, metafiction is a universal literary phenomenon that cannot be investigated from a single theoretical or historical point of view.

Over een toiletartikel

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:39:24 GMT

In 1858 J.H. Bormans published the first edition of Hendrik van Veldeke�s legend of Saint Servatius which had only just come to light. Nearly forty years later, Camille Huysmans supplied additional information about the work�s discovery. In a humorous letter printed in the Limburgsch jaarboek (1895-1896) he revealed how one of his former teachers, during a visit to a friend�s house, had stumbled upon the fifteenth-century manuscript in the toilet, ready to be used as toilet paper. Only recently have scholars begun to cast doubt on Huysmans�s story. A closer look at Huysmans�s student career in Li�ge and his involvement in the association Onze Taal (Our Language) may shed new light on the origins and veracity of his account.

Boekbeoordelingen

poj@peeters-leuven.be — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 16:39:45 GMT

Book reviews