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Title: Filmische elementen in de literatuur
Subtitle: Louis Paul Boon en Hugo Claus
Author(s): NUYENS, Bart
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 51    Issue: 3   Date: 2009   
Pages: 369-386
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.51.3.2042566

Abstract :
Louis Paul Boon and Hugo Claus have modernized the postwar Flemish novel, and in the process of modernization both authors were highly influenced by film, or more specifically by a specific corpus of films, in two distinct ways. Since the two authors themselves have acknowledged this influence, it needs to be further examined. This should not be done by simply transferring the terminology of film theory superficially to literary analysis, thus using the terms metaphorically. Instead, this article supports an interdisciplinary research approach that shows how Boon and Claus were fascinated by film, and how their fascination pointed them to the formal innovation of the Flemish novel. The approach combines the authors’ conceptions of literature with thematic and interpretative arguments, biographical and text-genetic evidence. Thus, it can be claimed that Boon found these innovative techniques in the silent film, while Claus was captivated by the surrealist film and the burlesque film. The challenge for literary studies now is to find a method that can describe the formal and stylistic influence of film on literature in a scholarly manner.

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