The Congo in Flemish Literature - by Luc Renders & Jeroen Dewulf & Grady Tarplee (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This book presents the first anthology of Flemish prose on the Congo, the former colony of Belgium, in English translation. Because of the Dutch language barrier, Flemish literature on the Congo has traditionally remained inaccessible to and thus neglected by international scholarship, as opposed to French or English prose on this part of the African continent. That this particular perspective has thus far remained underexposed, or even disregarded, is all the more regrettable in light of the fact that the vast majority of Belgians who went to work in the African colony came from Flanders. The Congo in Flemish Literature now represents a key step towards filling this lacuna by providing an overview of the different societal attitudes towards the colonial undertaking prevailing in Belgium during and after the colonial era, the way the relationship between Belgium and the Congo changed over time, subject to the zeitgeist and sociopolitical and economic developments, and the individual authors' varying points of view with regard to the colonisation. Flemish Congo prose offers a fascinating glimpse into Belgium's colonial past and legacy, primarily during the colonial era, but also at the time of its violent aftermath following Congolese independence on 30 June 1960, and well into the following decades.

Review Quotes

Cependant, Luc Renders et Jeroen Dewulf évitent soigneusement de conférer à cette littérature une cohérence trop factice. Prenant appui sur vingt-quatre extraits et autant d'auteurs qu'ils présentent à chaque fois succinctement, ils témoignent de la diversité des regards portés par ces derniers sur le Congo tout au long du XXe siècle. Loin de donner à voir un aspect uniforme de ces textes, ils nous invitent à les saisir dans leur spéci-ficité, préférant, ce faisant, nous donner accès à des publications jusque-là jamais traduites en anglais, voire en français. Car, et il s'agit là du principal apport de cette anthologie, la vingtaine de traductions qu'ils ren-dent enfin disponibles comptent parmi elles des textes oubliés, sinon inac-cessibles pour des locuteurs non néerlandophones. Dès lors, cette antho-logie est une contribution précieuse aux recherches sur les littératures africaines et elle laisse espérer de plus amples développements critiques sur ce sujet.
Pierre BOIZETTE, Études Littéraires Africaines, n°51 (2021)

That this anthology raises as many questions as it answers is a
compliment. Renders and Dewulf have not merely provided Dutch-language texts
on the Congo in one place in English, they also have assembled an anthology that
unveils much about the nature of Belgium's colonial experience and how it
reverberated in the metropole, all while raising questions as to what this literature
means.Matthew G. Stanard, Can.
J. of Netherlandic Studies/Rev. can. d'études néerlandaises 41.1 (2021): 67-71

About the Author

Luc Renders is professor emeritus of Hasselt University.

Jeroen Dewulf is Queen Beatrix professor in Dutch Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lieselot De Taeye is an FWO postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University.