Oog en blik Over de ‘geheimZINnigheid’ van Hermans’ werk

Samenvatting

Wilbert Smulders follows the trace of Hermans’ obsession with the theme of ‘(in)completeness’, or ‘(in)transparency’. This leads him to the question what Hermans alludes to when he speaks of ‘secret sense’ (geheimZINnigheid). Does literature reveal the sense of what escapes us all: the secret of existence? Or does every attempt to disclose this secret unavoidably ends up in concealment again? Can something truly secret actually be disclosed? Does the literary afford a singular outlook on reality? In the footsteps of Lacan, Smulders analyses the gaze to which Hermans seduces his readers, and with which he leads and misleads them, and he explores the intimate connection between the primeval belief in the evil eye and the esthetic point of view.