In this article, I wish to explore a dual form of reappropriation. On the one hand, I would like to show the extent to which The Folding Star rewrites Rodenbach’s Symbolist novel. On the other hand, I intend to analyse the way in which Hollinghurst transposes the text/ image binary at the core of Bruges-la-Morte. My aim is to explore the acts of intercultural and inter- medial translation at work in Hollinghurst’s novel, a programme which, incidentally, harmonizes with a polyglot novel, situated in Belgium, an (albeit reluctantly) bilingual, bicultural country.