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Document Details : Title: Hoe zwart was mijn dal? Subtitle: Relaiteit en fictie in het Nederlandstalige proza van de jaren vijftig Author(s): VERVAECK, Bart Journal: Spiegel der Letteren Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Date: 2003 Pages: 121-153 DOI: 10.2143/SDL.45.2.504198 Abstract : Traditional literary histories regard Dutch and Flemish prose fiction of the fifties as an extreme form of unmasking, getting rid of all ideals and thus reducing reality to one dimension, a dark emptiness. Formally speaking, this form of fiction is said to be rather traditional. The present article challenges these clichés. As far as content is concerned, the novels of the fifties do not reduce reality but make it more complex and multi-dimensional, by unveiling the various layers that are usually hidden from view: the surreal, the mythological, the subconscious, and the magical. This further involves a new view on language and subjectivity. As far as the form is concerned, the first experimental novels date from this same period, and some of the more traditional novels also make use of various new techniques. The analysis presented is based on the critical and fictional works written between 1945 and 1960 by eleven authors: Blaman, Boon, Claus, Daisne, Hermans, Lampo, Michiels, Mulisch, Reve, Schierbeek, and Walravens. |
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