Marnix Gijsen published Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken (1948) after his break away from the Catholic Church and faith. The novel is a severe criticism of the hypochrisy of life in the Flemish countryside, where life in small villages during the turn of the century was dominated by the mayor, the parson, the school head master, and the village council secretary. In the fictional village Blaren, the latter three are the most powerful, and they are all family members of the young Marnix: Uncle Louis Leenaerts, the parson, Uncle Leander, the head master, and Uncle Felix, the council secretary.

As the young Marnix is caught playing sexual games with one of his friends, he is sent to spend the summer holiday in Blaren. Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken is a retrospective view on this summer. While as a young boy, Marnix was unlikely to see through the hypochrisy in the village, the sharp eye and comment of the elder Marnix is ruthless. The Telemachus of the title should not be taken to refer to the Odyssey by Homer, but rather as a reference to François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), (Eng. The Adventures of Telemachus, Son of Ulysses, a fierce denunciation of the aristocracy, which is what Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken is.

The myth of the village as a pure, and peaceful haven is soon broken by describing the background of some of the locals. Uncle Felix is described as a womanizer. Rape, suicide, adultery, avarice, socialism: all the "evils" associated with life in the cities are also found in the countryside. ( )