Pieter De Buysser as a public intellectual: Social involvement in the work of the Flemish dramatist, writer and philosopher Pieter De Buysser

Abstract

Pieter De Buysser is a Flemish philosopher, essayist, dramatist and novelist. He travels with his theater pieces around Europe. The translation of his debut novel De Keisnijders is published in 2016 in the Czech Republic. De Buysser is a typical example of a public intellectual, a subtly committed artist, who feels socially involved. This contribution is based on Thomas Vaessens’ De wraak van de roman (The revenge of the novel) as the starting point. In this article I argue why I consider Pieter De Buysser to be a part of the contemporary literary style of “post postmodernism”. This style builds on postmodernism and at the same time challenges it. On the examples from de Buyssers’ works I argue what I understand as a task of a public intellectual and how does De Buysser fulfil this role. On the example of De Buysser I show the current need of publicly active personalities to engage themselves in social and political debates.