“Provocation is my hobby,” says Herman Brusselmans. The so-called ‘angry young man’ of Flemish literature often includes autobiographical elements in his best-selling novels. His quirky Radio Books story is no exception.

Herman Brusselmans - 'Coma'

Born in Hamme, Belgium in 1957, Herman Brusselmans studied English and Dutch at the University of Ghent. After a short but successful career playing football, he worked as a librarian before turning to writing full-time in the early 1980’s. His influences include work by Gerard Reve and American author J. D. Salinger.

Since his 1982 debut collection of stories ‘Het zinneloze zeilen’ (Senseless Sailing), Brusselmans has published more than 40 books. Alcohol, sex and boredom are recurring themes in his work. Critics are often less than enthusiastic about his writing but he is one of Belgium’s most popular authors.

Brusselmans has had his own television show, a radio column and appeared in the film “Camping Cosmos” as an autistic Hell’s Angel painting surrealist slogans on caravans. A 2007 film version of his novel “Ex-drummer” is destined for cult status.

Autobiographical art

Bold, provocative statements are a trademark of Brusselmans – a trademark which has cost him a number of lawsuits. “In the last few years I’ve gotten a lot more cynical,” says the writer. “I used to go out of my way to see the positive side of things. Nowadays I don’t bother going out of my way at all.”

In his weekly column for the Flemish magazine HUMO, Brusslemans said he would stop writing about existing people and events. But much of his work until now has been highly autobiographical. In fact, his main character is regularly a writer named Herman Brusselmans, as in his 1996 novel ‘Autobiography of Someone Else.’ 

That is also the case in his story for Radio Books. Famous writer Herman Brusselmans sets off to surprise his wife Tania by dropping in on her at work. Along the way he ruminates about his life, his dogs, his literary rivals and other odd digressions:

“I walked on down the street, thinking about terrorism. What kind of a life does a terrorist have. But hey, you should never judge people by their appearance. A beard and a moustache, for example. Dirty. Soup gets caught in it. Tomato with meatballs. Let’s face facts. Don’t talk to me about terrorists. At home, we had a neighbour called Roger, and he terrorised the entire street. He walked around grumbling, shouting and cursing. ‘I’ll shoot you all dead!’ he screamed, nervously pulling on his cigarette. Many people hid in the bomb shelter. But Roger didn’t have a gun. So there wasn’t actually any shooting as such.”

‘Coma’ by Herman Brusselmans was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by David Swatling.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.