Abstract
[Autom. eng. transl.] Only the dead saw the end of the war, says a famous motto attributed to Plato. For everyone else life seems destined to preserve the flavor of a long denouement now fatally punctuated by a "before" and an "after". This is confirmed in fact by the true story of Urbain Martien, a man "predestined for everything and for nothing": a man like any other, a Flemish Septimus Warren Smith passionate about art, of painting, survived the hell of Schiplaken, the horrors of Sint -Magriete-Houtem, to the legendary retreat up to Jabbeke and Ostend and to the battle of Yser in October 1914. Martien is the protagonist of the fifth and last novel by the Flemish writer, poet and essayist Stefan Hertmans, War and Turpentine (trad. by Laura Pignatti, Marsilio 2015, pp. 306, € 18), winner of the Award for Flemish Culture for Literature 2012-2013.
Translated title of the contribution | [Autom. eng. transl.] Stefan Hertmans. In "War and turpentine" a novel on the spiritual geography of Flanders |
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Original language | Italian |
Pages (from-to) | 4-4 |
Number of pages | 1 |
Journal | ALIAS DOMENICA |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- guerra
- libertà
- memoria