The latest addition to my website is Arnon Grunberg‘s Goede mannen (Good Men). Geniek Janowski is Dutch, albeit with a Polish father and German mother. Because of his father he is known known as Polack to everyone including his colleagues in the Heerlen C firefighting squad. He and his colleague stick together both at work … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Willem Frederik Hermans‘ Hermans: Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder (A Guardian Angel Recalls). Our hero is Bert Alberegt, a Dutch state prosecutor. In a hurry to get to a trial, he takes a short cut going the wrong way down a one way road and accidentally kills a young … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Marino Magliani‘s Soggiorno a Zeewijk (A Window to Zeewijk). This is a novel in the tradition of writers such as W G Sebald and Esther Kinsky in that Marino Magliani has moved to Zeewijk on the Dutch coast and writes about his impressions, the people, the landscape and … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Dola de Jong‘s De thuiswacht (The Tree and the Vine). This book became famous as it is about lesbianism at a time (1954) when respectable Dutch women did not write about the topic. Bea is a sensible and responsible young woman. She meets Erica, an erratic and unpredictable … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Willem Frederik Hermans‘ De donkere kamer van Damokles (The Darkroom of Damocles). This is the story of Henri Osewoudt. When aged twelve, his mother murders his father (we do not know why) and he goes to live with his uncle and aunt and shares a bed with his … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Willem Frederik Hermans‘ Het behouden huis (An Untouched House). This is a long story about a Dutchman who had been captured three times by the Germans during World War II and had managed to escape every time, finally ending up with a group of Soviet partisans. Our unnamed … Read more
Just back from a few days in the Netherlands. Though we visited a few cities, it is The Hague that was most interesting from the literary point of view. As you can see from the photo of the display of new books in a bookshop to the left, there are new books from writers already … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Hendrik Groen‘s Pogingen om iets van het leven te maken. Het geheime dagboek van Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 jaar (Attempts to Make Something of Life. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old). This is a hilariously funny diary by an elderly Dutch man in a … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Thomas Rosenboom‘s Publieke werken [Public Works]. Thomas Rosenboom won the prestigious Dutch Libris Prize for this work but, sadly, it has yet to be translated into English. It is a historical novel set in late nineteenth century Netherlands and involves some poor Jewish peat diggers, a rural pharmacist … Read more
We spent the couple of days after Christmas in Amsterdam. As you can see at the left, much of our time was looking at works of art. This painting is, of course, Rembrandt’s Night Watch, from the Rijksmuseum. and I would estimate that there were around five hundred people in the room when I took … Read more