Dispatches from the Prince of Ostrelande

Extract

Although the idea of publishing the letters Michel de Ghelderode wrote to me during a correspondence lasting some years is very attractive, it is an idea I strongly resist. The time I would need to translate and annotate the letters could be made available, but the pressing claims of tact and modesty would still prevail. Publication must wait until the years have afforded a perspective that no amount of present-day explanation can provide. Nevertheless, it seems to me that some of Ghelderode's comments in these letters would be of interest to those who are aware of his plays and stories, and I have assembled a small selection of such statements which I feel are not liable to misinterpretation when removed from their contexts.