Literature

Bart Verschaffel as coordinator for Literature when Antwerp was ECoC in 1993 did not use this occasion to offer only Flemish writers just another platform or stage to present their works. By not giving in to this local pressure, he made quite a few enemies. It says something about the difficulty to handle not only artists, but the European dimension.

Even though literature is the carrier of the narrative, it seems a most neglected sphere of the arts when reviewing the cultural programmes of the various European Capitals of Culture.

What Bart Verschaffel achieved, that is truly amazing. He invited many writers to come to Antwerp but instead of offering them a fixed programme, he let them drift even for days. They wondered when will they give a reading, hold a press conference, but nothing of that sorts. After a few days of letting them to get to know the city, he gathered them for a first talk. Eventually they decided upon themes to write about, themes like 'border' which have remained a part of th ECoC history e.g. Pecs 2010 calling itself 'borderless city' but without making any reference to what literary works were produced back then in Antwerp 1993. For some amazing publications emerged out of these encounters of writers under the guidance of Bart Verschaffel, and surely that can be considered to be a substantial legacy.

HF Athens August 2014

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Report filed in the Documentation Centre:

http://ecoc-doc-athens.eu/attachments/296_ANTWERPEN_93_INFOR_TEXT_FOR_ECCM_PATRAS_EXPO_EN.pdf

Singling out the Book: Discourse and Literature

ANTWERP 93 chose to create a sharply-defined, international literary project, designed to

enrich the existing one. This project, Discourse and Literature, produced five publications.

The work "Occupied City", by the Antwerp poet Paul Van Ostaijen, was at last

translated into French: Ville Occupée was published in a special edition as a true replica of

the first Dutch-language publication.

Nouvelle Synthèse d’Anvers provided a literary artistic reflection on urbanity and on the

city of Antwerp.

The most important publication was the series of six Cahiers. Each Cahier comprises twelve

texts relating to a specific theme. The Cahiers are a collection of a total of 100 texts, of

which 90 were new and written on request.

Discourse and Literature’s final publication was Het vel van Cambyses (The sheet of

Cambyses), two volumes and an epilogue designed to provide the art critic in Flanders with

an infrastructure by bringing together a choice of good art review texts. One book deals

with visual arts, the other with theatre, dance, opera, film, photography and television."

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