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:
“I pray every single second of my life; not on my knees, but with my work. My prayer is to lift woman to equality with man. Work and worship are one with me. I can not imagine a God of the universe made happy by my getting down on my knees and calling him “great.””
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of “work,” because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don’t always want to do.... The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep.”
—Andy Warhol (1928–1987)
“His work was that curious mixture of bad painting and good intentions that always entitles a man to be called a representative British artist.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)