The Bottle at Sea: The Complete Poems

Born in 1900 in Antwerp, Maurice Gilliams was one of the greatest Flemish writers of the 20th century. Although his poetic œuvre is contained in just one volume, his influence upon Dutch language poets was enormous. Although Gilliams' work contains solemn words in a magnificent old Flemish style, he is decidely a modern poet, influenced by Expressionist painting and the subjects of the brutality and meaninglessness of much of contemporary life.

Here, collected for the first time in English, are the complete poems of this great Flemish author, who also wrote important novels—including the world-wide acclaimed Elias, or the Struggle with the Nightingales (1936)—and spent much of his life as a painter.

Two years before his death in 1982, Gilliams was awarded the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (the Grand Prize of Netherlands Letters).