The Alpha Cycle: Volumes 1-2, Book Alpha and Orchis Militaris

by Ivo Michiels, Adrienne Dixon (Translation)

R. Ceuppens was born in 1923 near Antwerp. Under the pseudonym of Ivo Michiels, he rose during the postwar years as one of the most talented of a group of Flemish writers, Dutch language authors writing in Belgium, including Louis Paul Boom and Hugo Claus. Michiels began as a filmmaker before turning to fiction with Het afscheid ( The Leavetaking ) in 1957 and, the following year, with the beginning of his Journal brut . But it was only in his 1963 fiction Het boek alfa ( Book Alpha ) that he came to great attention. Along with the second of what came to be called "The Alpha Cycle," Orchis Militaris (1968), Michiels gained an international reputation that compared him with his fellow countryman Claus as well as Samuel Beckett. The other books of the cycle, forthcoming from Green Integer, are Exit , Samuel , o Samuel , and Dixi(t) . This group of five books continues to influence several younger generations of Flemish writers, and has stood up as major innovative writing over the years since, in effect introducing postmodern fiction into Flemish literature. His books have been translated into several languages.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Ivo Michiels, pseudoniem van Henri (Rik) Ceuppens, was een Vlaamse schrijver. In 2012 ontving hij de America Award van The Contemporary Arts Educational Project "voor zijn levenslange bijdrage aan het internationale schrijverschap".

Ivo Michiels in de Nederlandstalige Wikipedia

Ivo Michiels in de Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren

Ivo Michiels bij "Schrijversgewijs"


Ivo Michiels, pseudonym of Henri (Rik) Ceuppens, was a Flemish writer. In 2012 he received the America Award of The Contemporary Arts Educational Project 'for his lifetime contribution to international writing'.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ivo Michiels (1923-2012) was a belated Flemish exponent of experimental writing on the edge of modernism and postmodernism, writing his most renowned novels in the 1950s and 1960s. Through typical experiments in style, narrating voice, and perspective he drew a vivid picture of fragmented reality, in which protagonists and even story lines often are missing. His most famous novel, ‘Book Alpha’, published in 1963, goes not so far, because there is a protagonist and a story line. It’s a real tour de force, because Michiels is only focussing on an unnamed soldier on duty in a city in wartime, amidst bombings, and refugees. While observing the chaos our man thinks of personal experiences in the past, mostly in his youth, and it are almost always traumatic experiences of passivity and impotence. At the end there’s a moment of catharsis when he finally resolves to go looking for his beloved one.

After 30 years I read this a second time. Again I was impressed, even if you put it next to other examples of experimental stories. Michiels has managed to find his own voice, using a stream of consciousness in the third person. Well done. Thirty years ago I hadn't noticed, but now I was also impressed by the portrait he painted of almost the entire Flemish microcosm (the provincialism, the all pervading Catholicism, processions and paedophile priests included), and that in only 140 pages!

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het feit dat Het Boek Alfa autobiografisch is, maakt het nog tien keer beter, wat mij betreft.

Ik heb me niet geërgerd aan de lange zinnen en de 'vooruitstuwende' schrijfstijl van Ivo Michiels. Het liet me enigszins in het ongewisse over wat er nu juist allemaal gebeurd is, over wat echt is en wat niet, maar dat mag ook wel eens.