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Research in the field of textual genesis reveals that most canonized Flemish novels have been the result of a long creative process. A detailed study of preliminary drafts and different manuscripts, of typescripts and corrected proofs, of correspondence and diaries makes clear that every and each novel can be considered as a poly-system of variables. The study of textual genesis can be situated within the philosophical framework of postmodernism considering all texts as inter-texts referring to a wide variety of linguistic registers and text traditions. The analysis of literary « avant textes » also sheds an important light on the process of stereotyping in the context of cultural discourse : all too often canonized literary works have been reduced to cultural stereotypes, thus creating a distorted image of a given culture. This form of ideological text manipulation is both active within the confines of the Flemish source culture as in a broader international perspective : both auto-stereotypes and hetero-stereotypes have often been distilled from a prejudiced approach. In this article we summarize some results of our research. The textual genesis of the following novels has been analysed : F. Timmermans, Pallieter (1916) ; S. Streuvels, Het leven en de dood in de ast (1926) ; L. Zielens, Moeder, waarom leven wij ? (1932) ; M. Gilliams, Elias (1936) ; G. Walschap, Houtekiet (1939) ; H. Claus, De hondsdagen (1952) en W. Ruyslinck, Wierook en tranen (1958). We express our sincere thanks to all authors and archives concerned.