 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: 'Ik verkies de woorden' Subtitle: Over strelen en bijten Author(s): CASTELEIN, Tammy Journal: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie Volume: 86 Issue: 1 Date: 2024 Pages: 125-139 DOI: 10.2143/TVF.86.1.3293628 Abstract : Het onverwachte antwoord (The Unexpected Answer) by Patricia de Martelaere is a multi-layered novel in which five women explore their complex relationships with the same man, G.H. In an associative and incantatory style, the women express their thoughts about G., which slowly forms a picture of him: a man of great attraction but emotionally inaccessible. The story explores themes of desire, obsession and its physical expressions, such as caressing and biting, as varied ways of possessing the other. The novel raises questions about the nature of love and desire, and the relationship between literature and philosophy. De Martelaere distinguishes literature from philosophy by arguing that, unlike philosophy, literature is a serious and necessary creative act, in which worlds are created whose very existence depends on their status as works of art. This distinction can be seen as a way of protecting her own novels from the label of ‘philosophical novels’. By focusing on the unique and personal, Het onverwachte antwoord escapes the limitations of traditional philosophical discourses and offers a distinct, more intuitive approach to existential questions. |
|
