The Dying Peasant

The Dying Peasant, a masterpiece of Flemish literature, and the work by which the symbolist writer Karel van de Woestijne is most remembered today, tells the story of the peasant Nand, and his last hours, when his mind turns inward, to a world of memory in which he is visited by a succession of figures representing his five senses, reminding him of the joys of his modest existence.

Originally published in 1918 and here made available in English for the first time in its unabridged form in a superb new translation by Paul Vincent, this novella, by one of Flanders’ greatest poets, is a work of profound beauty and humanity.