Victor-Denijs De Rijckel, a self-conscious and sexually troubled language teacher, is asked by the headmaster to prepare a flattering introduction for the speech the latter is going to give in Oostende. De Rijckel, who has had to put up with the headmaster’s arrogance for years, chooses to attend a bewildering masquerade ball in the city’s casino instead. Overwhelmed by a boisterous feeling of liberty, he watches an austerely dressed woman refusing the advances of a hapless admirer. When the woman leaves for the beach, De Rijckel and the unfortunate admirer cannot keep up with her. The following morning, a thirteen year-old pupil invites De Rijckel on a trip to the village of Hekegem, a…

Zoals in vele romans van Hugo Claus zitten in Een zachte vernieling (1988) autobiografische gegevens verwerkt, in dit geval uit zijn woelige Parijse tijd. In 1950 trok hij als jonge twintiger naar Parijs, dat na de Tweede Wereldoorlog voor vele kunstenaars een artistiek Mekka was geworden. Hij kwam er spoedig in contact met de schilders van de Cobragroep, onder wie Karel Appel, en een aantal Nederlandse dichters als Remco Campert, Rudy Kousbroek, Hans Andreus en Lucebert, met de overenthousiaste Simon Vinkenoog als centrale figuur. Zij leefden er doorgaans geïmproviseerd en in grote armoede, maar dompelden zich graag onder in de sfeer van nieuwverworven totale vrijheid en onstuitbare…

‘The road to civilisation has not been all that long,’ said Hugo Claus on the publication of his new novel, ‘and corruption is an everyday reality here. That makes it all the more striking when there is a real explosion.’ Such an unwelcome disruption of the existing order is the theme of De geruchten. The book is set in the mid-1960s. René Catrijsse, a man in his twenties who fought in the Belgian Congo before deserting from the army, returns to his home village of Alegem in West Flanders. He is on his last legs and has a badly wounded back.