Geeraerts onttroond. Het beeld van de Vlaamse postkoloniale Congoliteratuur volgens Renders

Abstract

There are practically no comprehensive studies on the history of Flemish postcolonial literature.A new book by Luc Renders, which was published in 2021 under the title De mislukking van debeschavingsmissie. Het Nederlandstalige Congoproza van 1960 tot 2020 and is a continuation ofKoloniseren om te beschaven. Het Nederlandstalige Congoproza van 1596 tot 1960 (2019), aspiresto fill this gap. Renders’ pioneering work is the very first such detailed exploration of Flemish postcolonialliterature. Here, Renders provides a subjective view of postcolonial literature in Dutch, andestablishes his own hierarchy of what is valuable and important in this literature. One of his mostinteresting (and controversial) reevaluations concerns the work of Jef Geeraerts and the status ofthis writer within the postcolonial Flemisch literature about the Congo.