A Walk on the Wild Square
Poetry of the 1980s and 1990s
By Paul Demets
In the poem ‘Carillon’ from Het wilde plein (‘The Wild Square’, an anthology of the work of Tomas Tranströmer translated by J. Bernlef) the poet stays in a filthy hotel in Bruges, the Flemish Venice of the North, and looks out the window:
Outside a pedestrian street moves past
with slow tourists, quick schoolchildren, men in working clothes, pushing rattling cycles. Those who think they make the world revolve and those who think
they’re spinning helplessly in the grip of the earth. A street we all walk down, where does it lead?
The room’s only window looks out on some thing else:
The Wild Square,
a seething patch of ground, a great trembling expanse, now full
of people, now empty.
This poem could serve as a metaphor for the colourful turmoil found in Dutch-language poetry at the moment. Poets of all ages, with widely differing poetics, move past, wander round the square, sit on a terrace to get a better view. Others seem to be absorbed in animated conversation with themselves or prefer to survey events from behind glass.
Search Website
Essays (English)
- Judges' Report. Vondel Translation Prize 2009 Paul Binding, Susan Massotty, Ina Rilke
- Character. On Character by F. Bordewijk By Cees Nooteboom
- Dark Poetry and Ambiguity. On the The Darkroom of Damocles by W.F. Hermans By Milan Kundera
- Waiting for a Pioneer. The Development of the Dutch Thriller By Gijs Korevaar
- Young poets, packed houses. Dutch poetry from the eighties to the present By Tatjana Daan
- Beauty and Truth neighbours once more. Literary Non-Fiction in the Netherlands and Flanders By Ger Groot
- God's Fingerprint. Modern Dutch Prose By Onno Blom
- A Quilt of Many Colours. Contemporary Children's Books By Annemie Leysen
- Between the Individual and Society. Postwar Prose in Holland and Flanders By Jaap Goedegebuure
- There Is No Such Thing as Dutch Literature. Dutch Literature Seen From Abroad By Hermann Wallmann
- A Walk on the Wild Square. Poetry of the 1980s and 1990s By Paul Demets
Essays (Nederlandstalig)
- Homeros bijna nabij? Een Iliasvertaling door Patrick Lateur
- Verzoening met het eigen werk door Anneke Brassinga
- 'The Windhover' van Gerard Manley Hopkins door Maarten Elzinga en Koen Stassijns
- 'Stamboom' van Rozalie Hirs
- Over het vertalen van De Danser van Nijhoff door David Colmer
- 'Verhuizen' van Peter Theunynck door Ira Wilhelm en Ard Posthuma
- Ontroerd door afstand door David Colmer
- Juryrapport. Phares du Nord Prijs 2009 door Danielle Bourgois, Margot Dijkgraaf, Annie Kroon
- Dankwoord Anita Concas door Anita Concas
- De vondsten van een kinderboekvertaler door Rolf Erdorf
- Serendipity. Of de betrekkelijkheid van vondsten door Barber van de Pol
- Het huiswerk van de taalman door Pjeroo Roobjee
- Een staat van genade. Vertaalvondsten door Peter Verstegen
- Op de Berlagebrug. Over het vertalen van liedteksten door Jan Boerstoel