Motifs of water in Conrad Detrez’s “Ludo”

Abstract

Conrad Detrez is undoubtedly one of Belgium’s most important writers of the 70s of the 20th century. After having translated Brazilian revolutionary authors, he resumed the review of his provincial past, named «hallucinating autobiography». His first autofictional novel Ludo (1974) bring to life his first Belgian years in his native land where the inundation invades everything, the incessant rain causes floods and the river enters the houses. With excellent wit, Detrez’s scalpel-pen dissects characters and situations through which such topics as friendship, everyday marginal life and panic of people during the Second World War. Through selffiction, Detrez´s novel present the author and narrator’s obsessions.