a novel by a good Dutch author

[Silvia]

Hi!
I haven't written here for a long time, but I'd like to start taking part to some of your discussions again! I fear my English has gotten worse and worse, though, since I'm not practicing it as much as I should.
First of all, I was wondering wether you could suggest a good novel by a good Dutch author: I'm about to spend a week in Amsterdam and I'd like to read something that will introduce me to the mood of the city.
Thanks
Silvia

[kiki1982]

I don't know, Cees Nooteboom is a 'modern' Dutch author. If it is really about Amsterdam, I don't know, though.

Mulish is also a world-renowned author, if I am not mistaken, but I don't know whether he wrote anything really about Amsterdam itself.

If there are any translations of the detective 'Baantjer', then he is a police inspector who solves cases in Amsterdam, I believe.

[TheFifthElement]

I'd second Cees Nooteboom. He doesn't write about the Netherlands, as such, but you might want to read his novel Rituals which is set, if I remember rightly, in Amsterdam.

[David Lurie]

I haven't read it yet, but Boven is het stil (The twin in the English translation) is the debut novel by a Dutch novelist - Gerbrand Bakker - which has won the 2010 IMPAC Award, it seems this book has been appreciated by J.M Coetzee too.

[Eiss]

Forget Nooteboom, be selective when it comes to Mulisch (I like 'De procedure', it's translated at least into French and German).

Try to get:
- Nescio (ps. of JFH Grönloh 1882-1961)
- Gerard Reve / GK van 't Reve (1923 - 2006)
- Herman Hendrik ter Balkt (1938, best living dutch poet)
- Arnon Grünberg (1971, cannot but mention him, 'Blue mondays')
- Herman Brusselmans (1957, flamish, good laugh)
- Willem Elsschot (1882 - 1960, flamish)

I probably forget some, but if you can get one or a few of these you'll have a good start.

[stlukesguild]

Why forget Nooteboom? I actually found him quite good and considering he is repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel it appears I am not alone.

[Eiss]

Okay, don't forget Nooteboom, but he (like Grünberg) is not a typically Dutch writer - he's a storyteller, more then a poetical writer sharing words of the mothertongue, as far as I'm concerned. His talent could have emerged anywhere, if you know what I mean. That's why I hessitated mentioning Grünberg, who as well is in a way too international, too big in a way maybe, to be read as a Dutch writer.

[stlukesguild]

Well isn't it those writers who are so "large" as to resonate beyond the boundaries of their native language and culture that are of the greatest importance and worth to the reading audience as a whole and not just to those of the native tongue and culture?

[Eiss]

Well, yes, but if looking for literature because of a planned visit to a city or a country or a nation, the works of the writers mentioned might not be the most appropriate. The subjects of their books are often not even Dutch - but be my guest.

[Silvia]

thank you all for your pieces of advice!
Yesterday I borrowed Nooteboom's Rituals and started it. Even though I'm only at page 41, I have enjoyed the reading so far. I'm plannig to check out some of the other authors above mentioned, when I have time. Do you know about other authors (not Dutch, this time) who portrayed Amsterdam in their novels? I thought it would be just as useful to see the city through the eyes of a foreigner.

[kiki1982]

I would forget Brusselmans anyway. There is nothing in that. Only bad prose and calling people names. He always accomplishes to write books of exactly the same size and thickness.

Certainly read Elsschot, by all means, but he is not Dutch is he, so he will not be able to give you the atmosphere of Amsterdam then anyway, although, he is one of the best Flemish authors of all time. Truly worldclass and his family never knew he wrote until he died.

I was thinking of F Bordewijk, I think his work must have been translated, Character it should be translated, among others. But it plays in Rotterdam in the 1930s.

Then there is still Louis Couperus. He mainly wrote about the rich in Den Haag (The Hague) around the turn of the century (1900) and possibly also Dutch India, or what is now Indonesia. In this era you can also go for Marcellus Emants (a personal favourite of mine), naturalist prose admirably and beautifully written, but mainly about the rich. If not The Hague, then Monaco or so. However, he also wrote some stuff about poorer people, but I don't think explicitly in Amsterdam.

Mulisch writes good stuff. Try maybe Two Women, if translated. (orig title Twee Vrouwen). And his work The Discovery of Heaven (orig title De Ontdekking van de Hemel). Though that is also not Amsterdam.

The thing is, it's a little difficult to find something specifically about Amsterdam. The Netherlands is fine, but Amsterdam is slightly more difficult.

Reve is known for only one book, The Evenings which plays during the long last winter before the Netherlands was liberated from the Germans, called in popular culture 'The Hunger Winter'. A lot of people died during that winter because food was sarce and expensive. The allied had got stuck in the harbour of Antwerp, disobeying the instructions of the Flemish resistance which told them to leave Antwerp and go for the border. They did not and got stuck in Antwerp because the harbour was being fiercely defended by the Germans as one of their last supply lines. Thus, the Dutch were abandoned and mainly in the cities faced the same problems as the people in Germany: lack of supplies to the Reich, which made them die of hunger and sell pianos for loafs of bread. The book evokes the sheer boredom of that winter. But I'm not sure whether it really evokes the true atmosphere of modern Amsterdam...

[Madame X]

I would forget Brusselmans anyway. There is nothing in that. Only bad prose and calling people names. He always accomplishes to write books of exactly the same size and thickness.

He seems to be most popular amongst people who don’t really read, at any rate. :p But a funny interview, at least.


The thing is, it's a little difficult to find something specifically about Amsterdam. The Netherlands is fine, but Amsterdam is slightly more difficult.

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it but nothing really illustrative comes to mind. Thing is, Amsterdam is sort of in a sphere of its own, that is, it’s probably the least ‘Dutch’ city I can think of. At least, it’s certainly not representative of what you can expect elsewhere in the Netherlands…yeah, yeah, almost every Dutch city has canals, quaint houses, bicycles and prostitutes…but not really the same, well, gritty, over-the-top kinda atmosphere you’ll find in central A’Dam. Camus said it best: avez-vous remarqué que les canaux concentriques d’Amsterdam ressemblent aux cercles de l’enfer? (Have you noticed that the concentric canals of Amsterdam resemble the circles of hell?) :D

Which reminds me, Silvia, that Camus’ La chute (The Fall) takes place in Amsterdam. Granted, it isn’t about Amsterdam, but he does make several observations about the city and its people throughout the narrative (such as the one quoted above). Plus it’s a good story besides.

And if anyone is still looking for a good Dutch writer, I can’t leave without recommending my personal favorite – Willem Frederik Hermans. Grotesquely overlooked by the international community; I only think a few of his books have been translated, the most popular of which is probably Beyond Sleep (Nooit meer slapen), but Acacia’s Tears (De tranen der acacia’s) and The Darkroom of Damocles (De donkere kamer van Damokles) are also available and quite good. He has a somewhat sardonic writing style, dark yet appropriately understated sense of humor, and was certainly no patriot. Excellent stuff. :nod:

[waltereegho]

It's impossible to talk Dutch literature without mentioning Harry Mulisch.