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oa ‘Elke snipper wordt vertaald’
De Hongaarse schrijver Imre Kertész en zijn positie in het Nederlandse literaire polysysteem
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Internationale Neerlandistiek, Volume 58, Issue 3, Oct 2020, p. 213 - 229
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- 01 Oct 2020
Abstract
In this article the position of Hungarian Nobel laureate Imre Kertész (1929-2016) in the Dutch literary field will be analysed based on Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory and its previous implementation in the field of Dutch literary studies. It will be shown how the initial reception of Kertész’s works was enthusiastic but limited – Kertész quickly ‘made a name for himself’ in cultural circles, but was not widely discussed in mass or popular media. After his winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 2002) a shift is noticeable – not only are his works from that moment onwards more frequently reviewed in circuits that until then had ignored him, also the significance of his ‘mentions’ change. Kertész is more often referred to in articles and reviews to underscore a point that the author of the article or review wishes to make – and this point is increasingly extra-literary, or even political. From a foreign author mostly known by the cultural elite, Kertész becomes the negative reflection of the contemporary Hungarian political powers.