and In een lege kamer een garendraadje ("In an Empty Room a Piece of String"). The former is a wider treatment of the trend set by Op weg naar de poëzie: for Hamelink, the writer who tries to capture the "mystery" has to be thoroughly familiar with both human history and the literary tradition. In doing this Hamelink consciously placed himself in a tradition that stretches from Dante Alighieri to T. S. Eliot. Similarly to the poet, high demands are made on the reader and critic. In een lege kamer een garendraadje is a violent attack on a contemporary Dutch literary criticism that was less and less appreciative of Hamelink's work. Hamelink especially reproached his contemporaries for their lack of knowledge of the classics and their complacent admiration of "experimental" poetry. This conscious turn away from his colleagues and the bulk of his audience has perhaps reached its climax with the current phase of Hamelink's work. Since Sacrale komedie ("Sacral Comedy") his work has become highly allusive. Personal and "general" history fuse in ever more rigidly constructed poems. The language of these poems heightens their difficulty: the author riffs on existing words, creating neologisms while at the same time reintroducing archaic words. Despite the current hermetic nature of his poetry, Hamelink has recently enjoyed a modest surge of popularity. Prominent Dutch critics and poets such as Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer write positive reviews on his works and two of Hamelink's recent publications have been nominated for the prestigious VSB poetry prize. Work 1964 - De eeuwige dag (poetry) 1964 - Het plantaardig bewind (short stories) 1966 - Horror vacui (prose) 1967 - Een koude onrust (poetry) 1968 - De rudimentaire mens (short stories) 1969 - Oudere gronden (poetry) 1969 - Ranonkel of de geschiedenis van een verzelving (novel) 1970 - De betoverde bruidsnacht (drama) 1971 - Geest van spraak en tegenspraak (poetry) 1973 - De boom Goliath (prose) 1973 - Windwaarts, wortelher (poetry) 1974 - Afdalingen in de ingewanden (prose) 1974 - Witvelden, inskripties (poetry) 1975 - Hersenopgang (poetry) 1976 - Een reis door het demiurgenrijk (prose) 1976 - Niemandsgedichten (selected poetry) 1977 - Stenen voor mijzelf (poetry) 1978 - De droom van de poëzie (essay) 1979 - Gehandhaafde verhalen (selected prose) 1979 - Het rif (poetry) 1980 - In een lege kamer een garen draadje (criticism) 1980 - Responsoria (poetry) 1982 - Ceremoniële en particuliere madrigalen (poetry) 1983 - Uit