Het scherpe genoegen van de metafoor. Over het proza van Raymond Brulez

Abstract

The Flemish author Raymond Brulez (1895-1972) is best known for his monumental tetralogy Mijn Woningen. In these novels, he employs a distant and critical narrative stance, in which imagery plays an important role. In fact, Brulez himself emphasised the importance of figurative language in his work in some poetical essays. This article further investigates the use of imagery in Mijn Woningen. Raymond Brulez' memory prose is influenced by a modernist poetics which foregrounds perception, consciousness and memory. Metaphorical language can be considered an instrument with which the subject can gain a better understanding of the world and himself.