‘Amsterdam’. Ninth Chapter of De Bruid van Marcel Duchamp

Abstract

K. Schippers’ novel, De Bruid van Duchamp, published in 2010 by Querido (Amsterdam), is an expression of the admiration that the author has had for Marcel Duchamp since his early years. In the 1960s, Schippers distinguished himself by introducing the readymade into Dutch-language poetry. Unlike the many works dedicated to Duchamp, Schippers conceived the writing of this novel with its content in mind: to capture the Duchampian spirit, Schippers does not resort to another analysis or the development of study paradigms, but works on style. The novel is a blend of detective and biographical genres, punctuated by elements of Duchamp’s reception in the Netherlands in the 1960s. How better to evoke Duchamp, the artist of mystery and surprise who wanted to make his life a work of art? In the French translation of the book we are currently working on, we have tried to maintain this correspondence between form and content.