Past Imperfect, Present Continuous. Belgian Current Affairs in Flemish Literature

The political and social upheavals in Belgium during the late 1990s have not left Flemish literature untouched. There was a brief but vigorous debate about politics and literature in the literary world, but the creative fall-out of all this turns out to be rather meagre. Rogiers takes a look at work by Tom Lanoye, Hugo Claus, and Walter van den Broeck, but has to conclude that there is not yet a novel that captures contemporary Belgium. The past is uncomplete; the present still unprocessed. (with translated extracts by Hugo Claus and Chris de Stoop)