Jean Ray au révélateur : « L’Edgar Poe belge » ou « Le Lovecraft flamand » ?
Jean Ray au révélateur : « L’Edgar Poe belge » ou « Le Lovecraft flamand » ?

Author(s): Arnaud Huftier
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Belgian literature; fantasy fiction; religion in literature; reception
Summary/Abstract: Called either as the Belgian Edgar Poe or as the Flemish Lovecraft, is Jean Ray really an epigone of his predecessor or his contemporary? The article intends here to explain the cyclical value of these labels, insisting in particular on the common point, which is the nationality of the author (Belgian), with the imaginary that is associated with it. In so doing, it will be possible to see how the positioning of the author is worked, by critics, on the one hand, but also by the writer himself, who plays with these criteria, to denude them. From there, the imaginary peculiar to Jean Ray can appear: a game not only with clichés, but also with what it represents. This is particularly true of the religious sphere, with a crisis in the absence of essence in contemporary society, even though the criteria associated with the Belgian imaginary never cease to refer to religiosity.

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