Three poets of the permanence of poetry
In this highly imaginative and tragicomic Radiobook, Geert van Istendael tells the story of three very different poets, all endeavouring to write everlasting poetry. Two of them are friends. While one of them ends up as a misunderstood drifter, the other seems to be well on the way to becoming an immortal poet. Until profound poetic musings are smothered by crude violence. The third poet, however, succeeds in imbuing his poetry with a cosmic sense of eternity.
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Biography
Geert Van Istendael
Geert van Istendael (b. 1947) is a journalist, poet and essayist. He is especially well known as a writer of confessions about his love-hate relationship with Belgium, Brussels and Flemish complacency. Unlike the passion and anger with which he expresses himself here, his poetry is extremely restrained. Time, space and wonder play a central role in his poetry, which is both lively and accessible. He became particularly well known to a large readership with books like Het Belgisch labyrint, De schoonheid van de wanstaltigheid and Alle uitbarstingen. In 2005 he published Mijn Nederland, in response to the request to explain Holland to Hollanders at their wits' end. Van Istendael is a highly acclaimed translator of German authors: Goethe, Heine, Brecht, Fried and Kahlau.