Overview

In recent years Stefan Hertmans has acquired an international reputation for his fiction. War and Turpentine, a memoir of his grandfather's experiences in the First World War, was one of the New York Times's ten best books of 2016, while The Ascent (De Opgang) sheds an abrasive, troublesome light on the historical tradition in Flanders of collaboration with Fascism. Before he began to write fiction and autofiction, however, he already had a very high profile as a poet. Hertmans' output has been prolific, and it was as a poet that I first made his acquaintance in 2013, when I was asked to translate two of his poems for an annual Lowlands Yearbook. I was struck by the airy lightness of his work: ""A child summons you to these hours, / imagine trickling water, / centuries without people. / Be still as ancient stones."" This was a poetry that was both layered and transparent. I saw it as a challenge for a translator and deserving of an international readership. With its insistent musicality, Hertmans' poetry lodges itself in the reader's memory. It also engages in a political and social discussion, which means that, while remaining highly concentrated work, it is anything but hermetic. Its relevance to current world issues, in combination with an almost traditional lyricism, makes him a unique figure in the Flemish scene. Perhaps the notion of 'metamorphosis' is a key to his work: each of his poems seems like a living creature, undergoing a transformation from start to finish.

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Stefan Hertmans (b. 1951, Ghent) is a poet, essayist and novelist. He attracted an international readership with his fiction. War and Turpentine (Oorlog en terpentijn; Pantheon Books, 2016) was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2017 and was one of the New York Times' ten best books of 2016. His most recent novel, The Ascent (De opgang), a disturbing study in Flemish collaboration during the Second World War, was published in 2022, also with Pantheon Books. He has always, however, written poetry, as his many collections testify. His collected poems (1975-2005), Music for the Crossing (Muziek voor de overtocht), were published in 2006. Another book, De val van vrije dagen (The Lure of Idle Days), appeared in 2010, Onder een koperen hemel (Under a Sky of Bronze) came out in 2018. Each of these books was published by De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam. In 2023 he was awarded the Prix Alain Bosquet, the major French publishers' award for the best collection of originally foreign language poetry: Sous un ciel d'airain, translated by Philippe Noble. Donald Gardner is a poet and literary translator who divides his time between Amsterdam and County Kildare, Ireland. He has published six collections of poetry, most recently Early Morning (Grey Suit Editions, 2017). Grey Suit Editions has also just published his New and Selected Poems (1966-2020). Originally a Spanish-language translator (Octavio Paz, The Sun Stone, Cosmos Books, 1969), Gardner has translated many Dutch and Flemish poets over the years. He has translated two collections of Remco Campert's poetry, I Dreamed in the Cities at Night (Arc Publications, 2007) and In Those Days (Shoestring Press, 2015). For the latter collection, he was awarded the Vondel Prize for literary translation. 

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