San Antonio College Library

Though the Netherlands has been the site of vigorous literary activity since at least the poets of the Beweging van Vijftig (Movement of the Fifties), the status of Dutch as a "minor" language spoken by only fifteen million people has kept its rich poetry more or less a secret. This volume--featuring J. M. Coetzee's finely wrought English translations side-by-side with the originals--brings the work of six of the most important modern and contemporary...

This study is a linguistic and socio-psychological exploration of a universal human practice. The text argues that euphemisms and dysphemisms demonstrate the poetic inventiveness of ordinary people and reveal a folk culture that has received little attention.