High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands

Publications

High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands

The Quest for his Dreamland. Jeroen Brouwers' East Indies Triptych
0 Comments
For subscribers

The Quest for his Dreamland. Jeroen Brouwers' East Indies Triptych

(Jaap Goedegebuure) The Low Countries - 1996, № 4, pp. 97-108

This is an article from our print archives. Please be patient as we have to scan it

The Dutch writer Jeroen Brouwers (1940-) spent only seven years in various parts of the Indonesian archipelago which broke away from the Netherlands in 1945. He has never been back since 1948, the year in which his parents decided to return to their own country. During that half-century his tropical birthplace has undergone a metamorphosis into a dreamland. Even so, it would be 1979 before the East Indies of his dreams would rise up out of the mist of his memories and take shape in Brouwers' work. A writer, Brouwers seems to be suggesting, can do nothing but look back. The underworld of his past, no matter how heavenly it may seem in dreams and memories, pulls him down again and again. Jeroen Brouwers' vision, a personal variation on an age-old theme, justifies the intense retrospection and cumulative nature of a style which is all his own. (with a translated extract from ‘The Flood' by Jeroen Brouwers).

Continue reading?

The article you want to access is behind a paywall. You can purchase this article or subscribe to access all the low countries articles.

€3

€4/month

€40/year

Sign in

Register or sign in to read or purchase an article.

Sorry

You are visiting this website through a public account.
This allows you to read all articles, but not buy any products.

Important to know


When you subscribe, you give permission for an automatic re-subscription. You can stop this at any time by contacting emma.reynaert@onserfdeel.be.