The genealogical novel as a way of defining and/or deconstructing cultural identity: Flemish fiction since 1970

This article focuses on the genre of the genealogical novel, which has boomed in Flanders since 1970. This type of novel deals with the narrativization of the past (individual and collective) and with the link between origin and identity. The Flemish genealogical novel portrays the formation of individuals against the background of an emerging Flemish cultural identity. The link between cultural identity and literature is complex and nuanced. A territorializing approach of this relation leads to the reading of genealogical novels as ‘typically Flemish’. This view is often taken in the critical reception of the genre. A deterritorializing approach shows how genealogical novels can be read as comments on the concept of territorialization and as a critique of the stereotypical image of Flanders and its ‘roots’.