“…Grüttemeier (2011) heeft laten zien dat literatuurbeschouwers zich in het debat over Mystiek lichaam beroepen op de expliciete uitspraken van Kellendonk wanneer dat binnen hun eigen interpretatie van pas komt en daarvan afstand nemen zodra uitspraken van de auteur hun eigen mogelijkheden inperken. 30 Dergelijke inconsequenties zijn ook in deze bijdrage wel aan te wijzen, zoals de op een interviewuitspraak gebaseerde titelverklaring van Paranoia in de conclusie.…”
Willem Frederik Hermans's second collection of short stories, Paranoia (1953), opens with a short prose piece entitled 'Preambule' that for decades has been regarded as an introductory essay to the book. The italicized sentence 'There is only one real word: chaos' has often been understood as summary of the author's own epistemological views. However, Hermans himself always insisted that 'Preambule' was a story; but the author's claim has had little impact on its reception. This essay first brings together various explicit or implicit authorial indicators of the genre of 'Preambule', ranging from its typographical presentation to explanations in interviews. second, against the background of the fundamental pattern underlying Hermans's creative work as established in Hermans scholarship, I attempt to provide a coherent interpretation of the piece as a story, with an argument centered on but not limited to a comparison of the protagonist's philosophy of language with his own practice. I argue that the narrator turns out to be a self-caricature rather than a genuine self-portrait. The essay concludes by assessing how the story fits into the group of stories that make up the collection, and whether there is any significant order involved.
“…Grüttemeier (2011) heeft laten zien dat literatuurbeschouwers zich in het debat over Mystiek lichaam beroepen op de expliciete uitspraken van Kellendonk wanneer dat binnen hun eigen interpretatie van pas komt en daarvan afstand nemen zodra uitspraken van de auteur hun eigen mogelijkheden inperken. 30 Dergelijke inconsequenties zijn ook in deze bijdrage wel aan te wijzen, zoals de op een interviewuitspraak gebaseerde titelverklaring van Paranoia in de conclusie.…”
Willem Frederik Hermans's second collection of short stories, Paranoia (1953), opens with a short prose piece entitled 'Preambule' that for decades has been regarded as an introductory essay to the book. The italicized sentence 'There is only one real word: chaos' has often been understood as summary of the author's own epistemological views. However, Hermans himself always insisted that 'Preambule' was a story; but the author's claim has had little impact on its reception. This essay first brings together various explicit or implicit authorial indicators of the genre of 'Preambule', ranging from its typographical presentation to explanations in interviews. second, against the background of the fundamental pattern underlying Hermans's creative work as established in Hermans scholarship, I attempt to provide a coherent interpretation of the piece as a story, with an argument centered on but not limited to a comparison of the protagonist's philosophy of language with his own practice. I argue that the narrator turns out to be a self-caricature rather than a genuine self-portrait. The essay concludes by assessing how the story fits into the group of stories that make up the collection, and whether there is any significant order involved.
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