The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short

Govert Miereveld is a lawyer from a small Flemish town who also teaches in a school for girls He harbors a secret love for one of his young students Fran whom he loses touch with after her graduation Some time later Miereveld has to attend an autopsy and the shock of the experience deeply affects his mental balance He finds out or he believes so that Fran has become a popular singer He arranges to meet her to finally reveal his feelings An ambiguous but perhaps tragic denouement follows which might be a figment of the protagonists disturbed mind