Will-o'-the-Wisp walk: in search of Elsschot’s Maria Van Dam

Get carried away on this Elsschot walk. Together with your guide you will follow the 'quotations route'. Throughout the city he or she will tell the story of the novella 'Will-o'-the-Wisp'. Together you will search for the mysterious Maria van Dam.

Alfons de Ridder, aka Willem Elsschot, was born and raised in Antwerp, but became one of the first Great Dutch writers.

We follow the "quotes route" in the city to discover the story of "Will-o'-the-Wisp". This is a mix of fantasy and reality. Willem Elsschot himself said he had no imagination to make up a complete story from scratch. All of his works are therefore autobiographically inspired. He used adapted events from his life in his stories. His personal experiences were the starting point of all his novels and were given their own fictional reality during the writing process.

The novella "Het Dwaallicht" ("Will-o'-the-Wisp") is set entirely in the old city centre. We follow the book's story through Antwerp, reading passages and linking them to Elsschot's life.