Paul Snoek (1933–1981)

Like most Dutch and Flemish readers, I only knew [[Paul Snoek]] as a poet. [Reptielen & amfibieën] is a collection of 18 short stories. In Dutch literary criticism, they are classified as paraproza. They are too long to be called flash fiction, and should therefore be considered and short short stories with some qualities of "prose poetry".

In an interview in [Beroepsgeheim], deel 3, the author appeared somewhat dismissive of these short stories, which he apparently only considered "style exercises", fit for publication in magazines, but unfit for book publication. As a genre, this type of writing seems to have not found any contemporary practitioners. [[Snoek]] said he followed [[Van Ostaijen]] in this genre, which is best known through [[Gust Gils]].

This lack of following, the attitude of the author, and the fact that such prose was written by a few mainly Flemish authors in the 1950s and 1960s, but then abandoned, does not, as the writer of the afterword contends, provide sufficient ground to present these short pieces of prose the status of a classic. The inclusion of this slim volume,62 pages + 12 pages afterword by [[Dirk de Geest]] in the series of the Vlaamse Bibliotheek by Houtekiet in 2001, is somewhat dubious. They provided a mere hour of light entertainment: most stories are ludicrous, absurd is an understatement.… (more)