Regionalism and a European View? Gerard Walschap on the ‘Heimatroman’ Lut Missinne Concepts like the ‘regional novel’, ‘roman The Regional Novel 1. Felix Timmermans, Illustration in his rural’ or ‘der Heimatroman’ are genre des- as an Uncanonized Genre calender for 1933 on rural life. ignations that are quite problematic. First of [Lier, Stadsarchief] all, it is difficult to find clear definitions of The negative quality associated with the the genre ‘regional novel’. It is indeed pos- designation ‘regionalist literature’ has to do sible to make a list of its most prototypical with the historic development of the genre. characteristics, but attempts at a more de- At the end of the 19th century regionalist tailed characterization get entangled in am- reactions arose against urban developments bivalences and vagueness. Another problem, including the rise of an urban proletariat, and a major one, lies in the fact that these the spread of poverty, secularization, and the and similar terms are usually used as norma- loosening of moral standards, religious pat- tive rather than as descriptive concepts. Both terns and traditional ways of thinking. in literary histories and in literary criticism As a reaction to these modern developments, the term ‘regionalist literature’ is rarely ap- regionalism offered a particular form of plied in a neutral, non-evaluative way, but crisis management, namely a retreat into frequently denotes a kind of second-rate traditional moral and religious patterns. literature. Moreover, this also holds for the Seen from the perspective of the citizens contemporary use of the term, as some re- living in the late 19th century, the rural sponses to recently published Dutch novels population was a kind of curiosity, a group may show.1 that oddly enough had kept its faith in God, This contribution will illustrate how one an interesting phenomenon to observe, but of those supposedly among the most promi- one that remained at a great distance from nent opponents of regionalist literature, city life. This becomes clear in a quote from the Flemish author Gerard Walschap (1898- the late 19th-century Dutch critic and poet 1989), said to have instigated the ‘prose Busken Huet: “The feelings of a farmer are as renewal of the 1930s’ in Flanders, cannot profound as those of a citizen, but in his way adequately be described by a framework in of expressing himself, there sometimes is - as which ‘modernist’ and ‘regionalist’ literature a result of a his solitary existence - some- 1 When Gerbrand Bakker are seen as formal and ideological opposites. thing significant and naive, something that published his novel Boven is has been lost in the streets of the city, where het stil in 2006 (translated as The Twin in 2008), critics who so much more distraction can be found, and praised Bakker’s style felt obliged where life has become much more compli- to defend the book from being cated.”2 included in the regional genre. An antinomian model also prevails in See Note 3. 2 For the original quotation: literary historiography, in which regional- Holtrop, “Over het nut van de ism is associated with traditional narrative streekroman voor de literatuur”, and mimetic poetics, and modernism with 104. 151 3 2. Cover of Gerbrand Bakker’ s Boven servative, between open and closed. is het stil (2006): the renewal of the When in 2006 a novel was published by regional novel. the Dutch novelist Gerbrand Bakker, Boven is het stil (It’s quiet upstairs, issued in English as The Twin), the critics hesitated to use the qualification ‘regional novel’, because they considered it a deprecatory one. [2] When the critic Marc Cloostermans of the Flemish newspaper De Standaard discovered to his horror that Boven is het stil met almost all the criteria of regional novels he knew, he wrote: “Well then: a very good regional novel, never thought I would ever write this”, an indication that the regional novel in criti- cal discourse still functions as an anti-model, ‘as how it should not be done’.4 Regional nar- rative prose still seems to have an aura of commonplace representation, provincialism, traditionalism and inferior literary quality, in spite of the great popularity the genre has enjoyed and still does. formal experiments and rupture with the Characteristics of the Traditional aesthetic tradition. In this view regional Regional Novel authors occupy the periphery of the literary system. The regional novel is seen as a genre Over the course of time many differ- outside the canon, one that only succeeds ent and very diverse terms have described 3 See De Geest, “Literary Historio- in reaching the core of the literary system the genre broadly covered by the expres- graphy in Netherlandic Studies” and Kramer, Regionalismus und in its non-typical manifestations. In other sion ‘regional novel’. Even in Dutch liter- Moderne. words: ‘the best ‘regional novels’ are not the ary historical surveys the English and 4 Cloostermans, “Boven is het stil”. most typical ones’. The reason for this is that French terms occur: besides regional novel See also Drayer, “Kaïn en Abel literary historians often follow the ideas and (streekroman), we also find mentions of in Waterland”: “Boven is het stil is swarming with characters that programmatic judgments of contemporary ‘peasant novels’, ‘le roman paysan’, ‘roman would fit well in a regional novel: critics and advocates of literary modernism, rural’, ‘roman régionaliste’, ‘roman rustique’, the sturdy farmer, the taciturn and therefore consider a thematic and formal etc. A certain consistency in nomenclature farm-hand. But the story easily preoccupation with urban locations (e.g. seems to have developed, particularly in transcends these stereotypes.” Paris or Berlin), the characteristic of literary the 1930s, which must be seen in connec- And Janssens, “Het natuurlijk evenwicht eindelijk hersteld”: modernism, as the norm, and regionalism tion with a stronger awareness of the genre: “There is always some dispute as synonymous with ‘not modern’ and even ‘Heimatkunst’, ‘regionalistische roman’ (re- about regional novels, because ‘anti-modern’, in other words as second-rate. gionalistic novel) and ‘plattelandsroman’ they do not reflect our multicul- Such perspectives are based on an ideologi- (rural novel) are most frequently used in this tural society […] But, Boven is 5 cally charged contrast between the modern period. het stil is not a regional novel.” 5 Bemong, “Streekliteratuur in city and the ‘Heimat’, between metropolis The essence of a traditional regional novel literatuurgeschiedenissen”, 19. and province, between progressive and con- could be typified by the following seven pro- 152 thor Antoon Coolen (1897-1961), who was 3. Cover of the first edition of Stijn very successful in the 1930s with his Brabant Streuvels’ De Vlaschaard (1907) by Emmanuel Viérin, brother of the regional novels, did not hesitate to present architect Jozef Viérin. himself as a pure native of this province, al- [Leuven, KU Leuven, Universiteits- though he was born in Wijlre in the province bibliotheek] of Limburg. Coming from Brabant just had to be his trademark.6 (3) The environmental setting is constructed in an ideologically and morally charged opposition of the rural and the urban environments. Although a rural existence exposes the inhabitants to the constant dangers and violence of nature, their attachment to rural life is confirmed. (4) Stylistic characteristics are extensive pic- turesque descriptions, in which nature often fulfils a role as an actor in the narrative. (5) Regional language can be used to express the social oppositions mentioned above, and also serves to evoke the ‘couleur locale’. (6) The narrative plot is typified by a loose struc- totypical characteristics: (1) the setting is a ture in which the characters and the events small village, a rural environment, offering are linked together not so much by the obvious material for various conflict situa- development on the event-level, but by the tions: social conflicts based on class differ- setting and the voice of the - often external - ences and dependence of the poor labourers narrator. (7) The world view is conservative, on the rich farmers, but also generation gaps, conformist, romantic, nostalgic, idealising, between parents - mostly fathers - represent- suggesting timelessness and invariability. ing a conservative, patriarchal society and One could reformulate all these characteris- their children yearning for freedom and a tics in a deprecatory way, which then would modern way of life. A prominent example of result in the common image of the ‘regional this last type of conflict is Stijn Streuvels’De novel’ usually found in literary history.7 Vlaschaard (1907) (The Flaxfield). [3] At the centre of the narrative is the fight between a stubborn farmer, who finds it hard to hand over his life’s work to his son, who is becom- ing more and more rebellious. (2) The nar- rator’s attitude towards this milieu is one of sympathy and involvement. Very often the region described is also the native region of the author. The aim is recognizability and an atmosphere of authenticity which must be seen as an attempt to excite the reader’s sym- 6 Sintobin and Kusters, “Als een pathy. Consequently, we can speak of an in- steen in oprimpelend water”, 100. direct way of identity-building or an indirect 7 See De Geest, “Literary Historio- identity-confirming function. The Dutch au- graphy in Netherlandic Studies”. 153 4. Gerard Walschap, c 1930. popular writing. His Antwerp colleague, [Leuven, KADOC] Marnix Gijsen (1899-1984), also campaigned against what he called the ‘weather reports’ in Flemish novels. In his view and that of several young colleagues, descriptive pas- sages that were too many and too long hampered the course of the narrative. Other shortcomings that were condemned were: a simplistic worldview, largely idealized rep- resentations of characters and settings, or to put it briefly, a lack of realism.