The oeuvre of the Flemish postmodernist Peter Verhelst readsas a continuous ‘Arbeit amMythos' (Hans Blumenberg): in his poems, prose and plays Verhelst rewrites the samemythological stories over and over again with small variations. Particularly references tothe myth of Icarus are a connecting thread throughout the work of Verhelst. In this article,the myriad references to Icarus in Palate (1996), Verhelst’s seventh collection of poems,will be analysed. I will argue that those references are of crucial importance to understandand interpret the plot, the worldview, the view on language and the poetics of Palate. Theanalysis forms a part of my PhD-research on myth, tragedy and the tragic in the work ofPeter Verhelst (1987-2012).
