De absurde wereld van Maurice D'Haeses 'De Vervreemding': een schematheoretische analyse

In 1961, Flemish author Maurice D'Haese (1919-1981) published a collection of short stories, aptly titled Verhalen. One of these short stories and the topic of this article is 'De vervreemding', which describes a series of events devoid of any logical coherence. Consequently, literary criticism has often remarked upon its 'absurdist' quality. The existing interpretations of 'De vervreemding', however, tend to ignore the importance of the reading experience. In this article, I will use schema theory to elucidate how the act of reading itself becomes an integral part of the interpretation of 'De vervreemding'. My analysis exposes the incongruity between the fictional world and a reader's expectations based on his or her schemata, which in turn enhances our understanding of this short story, the literary absurd and how we interpret it.

Publication year:2014

Keywords:Cognitive Literary Science, Absurd literature, Maurice D'Haese, De vervreemding