 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
|
Document Details : Title: De kunst van het erven Subtitle: Over Mijnheer sjamaan en andere romans van Koen Peeters Author(s): VITSE, Sven Journal: Spiegel der Letteren Volume: 49 Issue: 4 Date: 2007 Pages: 457-473 DOI: 10.2143/SDL.49.4.2025304 Abstract : This article examines the both critical and playful reflection on structure, systematism and heritage in Mijnheer sjamaan and other novels by Koen Peeters. In these novels systems are omnipresent, yet at the same time the longing for closed and all-encompassing systems is constantly frustrated. The characters in these novels construct systems but run the risk of being governed by them. An important aspect of these systems, and a matter of great concern to Peeters, is history. How does the past affect the present and how does present society and culture deal with its past and its cultural heritage? Characters in Peeters’ novels collect and archive traces of this heritage, and they try to do so in a systematic manner. They do not, however, hope to reconstruct an authentic image of the past. Nor do they hope to reveal a pure origin of history. As well as showing an acute understanding of reductionist systematicity, Peeters’ novels question the notions of origin, purity and authenticity. |
|
