Verhalen van Matsombo : Jef Geeraerts’ beeld van de “Kongo-crisis” in Het verhaal van Matsombo

Abstract

Matsombo’s stories: Jef Geeraerts’s representation of the “Congo crisis” in Het verhaal van Matsombo The so-called Congo crisis (1960-1965) received a great deal of attention internationally. A literary response in Dutch to what happened in the former Belgian colony is Het verhaal van Matsombo (Matsombo’s story) by Flemish writer and former colonial civil servant, Jef Geeraerts. Until now, little critical attention has been given to Het verhaal van Matsombo, despite regular reprints of the text. This article researches how the Congo crisis is represented in Geeraerts’s novel. Although Geeraerts’s depiction of colonial conflict is, in certain respects, close to that of Franz Fanon, Geeraerts’s is ultimately a Western view.