Tom Lanoye reads JMH Berckmans

Hurrah, the complete works of cult writer JMH Berckmans (1953–2008) have finally been collected in Barakstad, a hefty volume weighing in at more than a kilo. Tom Lanoye has taken on the role of one of his most passionate ambassadors.

Lanoye: “From the moment I discovered Berckmans and his work, I developed a soft spot for him too. That had as much to do with him as a person and performer as it did with the radical nature and unmistakable voice of his writing. His work can be uncompromising, at times brutally hard-edged and often darkly funny. At times it is downright hurtful, even tipping into the sentimental. But it is always idiosyncratic and instantly recognisable. Completely Jean-Marie: radical and obsessive, a man of language with a handful of recurring subjects. He left us a universe entirely his own, one that stands comparison with the worlds created by other great Flemish writers, past and present — from Louis Paul Boon, Ivo Michiels and Peter Verhelst to Paul van Ostaijen.”