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Document Details :

Title: Poëziebeschouwingen tussen slammers en bloggers
Subtitle: Enkele kanttekeningen bij Ongerijmd succes (2006) van Thomas Vaessens
Author(s): DECELLE, Anne
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 49    Issue: 1   Date: 2007   
Pages: 69-80
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.49.1.2023434

Abstract :
Thomas Vaessens’ s most recent book Ongerijmd succes (2006) gives an account of the drastic changes the Dutch poetic landscape is currently undergoing. The success of performance poetry and the large number of initiatives about poetry on the internet, have brought about a radical split with the avant-garde scenario and the romantic conception of literature that have determined Dutch poetry for centuries. Vaessens therefore urges researchers and critics to formulate appropriate answers to these major shifts in the literary field. Ongerijmd succes constitutes an admirable attempt at incorporating domains, that are not traditionally considered worth research, into the academic discourse. Moreover, Vaessens should be praised for not limiting himself to criticism, but for daring to formulate theses and to suggest solutions. However, instead of providing a nuanced description of these new types of poetry and literary criticism, Ongerijmd succes too often resorts to overgeneralizations and wanted polarizations in order to make the observed phenomena fit into Vaessens’s central thesis. Also, the solutions Vaessens suggests, are sometimes ambivalent and show that he too is not fully capable of withdrawing himself from the old avant-garde paradigm.

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