`I was born in Belgium, I'm Belgian. / But Belgium was never born in me.' So writes Leonard Nolens in `Place and Date', which captures a mood of political and social disillusionment amid a generation of Dutch-speaking Belgians. And throughout this selection we encounter a poet engaged with the question of national identity. Frequently the poet moves into that risky terrain, the firstperson plural, in which he speaks as and for a generation of Flemings, embodying an attitude towards artistic and political commitment that he considers its defining mark. `We curled up dejectedly in the spare wheel of May sixtyeight', he writes in the selection's central sequence `Breach'. Nolens' poetry is haunted by giants of twentieth-century European lyricism, by Rilke, Valery, Neruda, Mandelstam and Celan, with whom he has arguably more affinity than with much poetry from the Dutch-language canon.

About the Author
The Flemish poet and diarist Leonard Nolens was born in 1947 and since his debut in 1969 has created an impressive A*uvre consisting of over thirty poetry collections and diaries. He is considered one of the most important contemporary poets in Dutch literature and has been awarded the Dutch Literature Prize, the most prestigious prize in Dutch-language literature.

Reviews
`a monumental figure in Flemish literature' - Poetry International Web



Book Information
ISBN 9781784105747
Author Leonard Nolens
Format Paperback
Page Count 128
Imprint Carcanet Press Ltd
Publisher Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 10mm