Geert Buelens · Lyrikline.org

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* 05.02.1971, Duffel, Belgium
lives in: Utrecht, Netherlands

Geert Buelens is a poet, essayist and lecturer of Modern Dutch Literature at the University of Utrecht. He writes columns for the Beglain newspaper De Standaard. In 2001 he attracted a lot of media attention with a book on the Flemish avant-garde poet Paul van Ostaijen and his influence on twentieth-century poetry in Flanders. This study was awarded the prestigious triennial Flemish Culture Prize for Essays in 2003, and has been widely acknowledged as the reference work on the experimental tradition in twentieth-century Flemish poetry. In 2002, Buelens published his first collection of poems: 'Het is', which was awarded the Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogt-prize. In 2005, his second poetry collection 'Verzeker u' (Ensure) followed.

In 2008 he published Europa Europa (Europe, Europe), an essay book about the effect of the First World War on modern poetry, in which he tries to contextualise the poetics of great European poets such as Rilke, Pessoa, Majakovski and Apollinaire.

At first sight Geert Buelens' poetry appears to be difficult, and while it can hardly be called simple, it is never uncomprehensible. Rather, it links the quest for the appropriate linguistic structure with the everyday struggle of the lyrical protagonist. He has an extraordinary ear for rhythm and sound and is strongly influenced by twentieth-century American poetry. As a former editor of the literary magazine Yang he translated American poets such as Bruce Andrews, Michael Palmer and Louis Zukofsky and edited a special issue of Yang on LANGUAGE-poetry.

Geert Buelens
Author

Poems

Geert Buelens
Author