Work
As a poet, De Conick aimed to produce poetry for the masses. His first volume, De Lenige Liefde, appeared in 1969, becoming the best-selling volume of 20th century Flemish poetry and winning literary prizes such as the "Yang-prijs" (1969) and the "Prijs van de Provincie Antwerpen" (1971). The collection has a relativating tone, and not seldom the poems have an ironic undertone.
The death of de Coninck's first wife, An Somers, in a car accident in 1971 began a difficult period in his life. The loss of his wife deeply influenced his second volume of poetry, Zolang er sneeuw ligt(1975). The collection won both the "Dirk Martensprijs van de Stad Aalst" (1976) and the "Prijs van de Vlaamse Provincieën" (1978). Later collections, such as Met een Klank van Hobo (1980) and De Hectaren van het Geheugen (1985) show a shift to a more romantic topos in his poetry. He also published the collections "Enkelvoud" (1991), "Schoolslag" (1994) and "Vingerafdrukken" (1997).
His essays on poetry were collected and published as Over de troost van pessimisme (1983), De flaptekstlezer (1992) and Intimiteit onder de melkweg (1994).
De Coninck was also a prolific letter-writer, keeping the letters he received and making copies of all the letters he sent. His estate contained 15,000 letters. A collection of these, selected and edited by Hugo Brems, was published as Een aangename postumiteit in 2004.
Read more about this topic: Herman De Coninck
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“Hard work. Well, that’s all right for people who don’t know how to do anything else. It’s all right for people who aren’t lucky. But once you’re lucky, you don’t have to work for other people. You make them work for you.”
—Dan Totheroh (1895–1976)
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—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“If therefore my work is negative, irreligious, atheistic, let it be remembered that atheism—at least in the sense of this work—is the secret of religion itself; that religion itself, not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not in intention or according to its own supposition, but in its heart, in its essence, believes in nothing else than the truth and divinity of human nature.”
—Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872)