Authors: Richard Huijing
B007P4V3G4 EBOK (2 page)
Special thanks must go to George Barrington of Dedalus Ltd, for
the trust he placed in me and my work; to Maarten Asscher,
Editorial Director of Uitgeverij J.W. Meulenhoff and a very dear
friend, whose tremendous efforts on my behalf went way beyond
the call of duty and appeared to exceed the bounds of the possible
on many occasions; to Eva Cossee of Uitgeverij Contact, Jacques
Dohmen of Erven Em. Querido's Uitgeverij, Jos and Franc Knipscheer of Uitgeverij In de Knipscheer, Erik Menkveld of Uitgeverij
De Bezige Bij, Wouter van Oorschot of Uitgeverij Van Oorschot
and Nans Spieksma of Uitgeverij Nijgh & Van Ditmar, all of
whom generously provided me with copious materials from their
lists as well as doing me many other kindnesses.
Maurits Verhoeff, that fine literary 'snifferdog', made all the
difference many a time with his enthusiasm and, especially, his
cheering words and quiet good humour when times were hard and
my spirits low. Theo de Groot, IT colleague and fine friend,
performed logistical feats bordering on the miraculous, channelling
the tidal wave of electronic mail between our two countries. I owe
you!
Without the eagle eye of Ron Mooser, my trusty word-forword checker and researcher of bibliographical data, and of Louise
Jakobsen, a fine and sensitive copy editor if ever there was, many a
gaff and infelicity would have found its way into print. Any that
now remain - and, alas, there always will be some that slip the net
- are my responsibility, and mine alone.
Finally, my profound thanks to all the authors and other copyright holders concerned: without your co-operation and generosity
this book could never have been.
I should like to thank the following for permission to use
copyright material:
Uitgeverij De Bezige Bij: for Jan Arends Het Ontbijt (1972);
Remco Campert De verdwijning van Bertje S. (1954, 1971); Fritzi
Harmsen van Beek Het Taxivarken (1968); Frans Kusters De Volledige
Diagnose (1991); Harry Mulisch De Versierde Mens (1975).
Uitgeverij Contact: for Maarten Asscher Het Geheim van Dr Raoul
Sarrazin (1992).
Uitgeverij J.W. Meulenhoff: for Huub Beurskens Hoogste Onderscheiding (1992); J.M.A. Biesheuvel Brommer op Zee (1972); Frans
Kellendonk Dood en Leven van Thomas Chatterton (1983); Arthur
van Schendel De Witte Vrouw (1936, 1976); Jan Siebelink Genegenheid (1978); Jan Wolkers Gevederde Vrienden (1959).
Uitgeverij G.A. van Oorschot: for Anton Koolhaas Balder D.
Quorg, spin (1958).
Uitgeverij Erven Em. Querido: for Belcampo Uitvaart (1959);
Willem Brakman Het Evangelie naar Chabot (1984); Inez van Dullemen Na de Orkaan (1983); A.F.Th. van der Heijden Pompeii Funebri
(1984); Helene Nolthenius Omzien als Wapen (1981); P.F. Thomese
Leviathan (1991).
Menno Heeresma Esq.: for Marcus Heeresma Stortplaats (1984).
Gerard Reve Esq.: for Gerard Reve Werther Nieland (1949, 1990).
Mrs Mieke Vestdijk: for Simon Vestdijk Het Stenen Gezicht
(1935, 1974).
It has proved impossible properly to identify the copyright holders
for one or two of the works included in this volume. Anyone
concerned is invited to contact the publishers, Dedalus Ltd., at
their offices in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, with regard to the matter.
STORIES
Maarten Asscher The Secret of Dr Raoul Sarrazin
38
Huub Beurskens Highest Honours
63
J. M. A. Biesheuvel Biker at Sea
74
Willem Brakman The Gospel According to Chabot
78
Remco Campert The Disappearance of Bertje S.
97
Louis Couperus Bluebeard's Daughter
100
Johan Andreas Der The Sacred Butterfly
112
Mouw
Lodewijk van Deyssel Curious Things on the Plain
118
Inez van Dullemen After the Hurricane
120
Jacob Israel de Haan Concerning the Experiences of Helens Marie Golesco
130
Fritzi Harmsen van Beek The Taxi Pig
139
Marcus Heeresma Dumping Ground
142
A. F. Th. van der Pompeii Funebri
155
Heijden
Frans Kellendonk Death and Life of Thomas Chatterton
171
Anton Koolhaas Baldur D. Quorg, Spider
183
Frans Kusters The Full Diagnosis
198
Harry Mulisch Decorated Man
202
Caret van Nievelt Souls Errant
218
Helene Nolthenius Looking Back: the Weapon
228
Gerard Reve Werther Nieland
232
Arthur van Schendel The White Woman
283
Willem Schurmann The Unbalanced King
288
Simon Vestdijk The Stone Face
350
Jan Wolkers Feathered Friends
359
Richard Huijing is, a classical musician, a writer and literary translator, and an IT consultant specialising in multi-tasking operating
systems architectures.
His translations include Parents Worry and Collected Poetry by
Gerard Reve, The Body Mystic by Frans Kellendonk and The Laws
by Connie Palmen.
He is currently engaged on editing and translating The Dedalus
Book of Belgian Fantasy and translating Louis Couperus's The
Chronicles of Small Souls and The Tattooed Lorelei by Jaap Harten.
Fancy that...
Those words may well cross many a reader's mind on lifting this
volume from the shelf for the first time and comparing its girth
with the reader's own estimation of the size of the corpus of Dutch
literature known to the general book buying public, not only in
this country but worldwide as well. It's an everlasting problem for
a big language with a comparatively small flock of native speakers:
how to make it and its wealth of literature travel beyond national
borders and the borders of countries from its colonial past where
(variants of) the language are still spoken today. Add to that a
prevailing image of the Dutch as a people of sober habit, cleanliness, order and an almost unlimited capacity to speak languages
other than their own, and the task of compiling an overview of
Dutch literature as a whole, while concentrating on the fantastic
within it, would seem to be a task so daunting as to be an almost
impossible one. And so it has turned out to be, but for reasons
quite different from those I might have expected: such was the
wealth of material at my disposal that a second volume of similar
size could have been filled with ease without any compromises as
regards quality or suitable subject matter. My turn to say: 'Fancy
that!' And fancy is the word that rules the contents of The Dedalus
Book of Dutch Fantasy, that old and trusted expression denoting the
entire range of products of the imagination in fiction, in Art as a
whole, from the weirdly improbable to the macabre, from fairy
tales to pipe dreams, from darkest perversion to religious ecstasy: the
Dutch literary imagination in as many guises as could be found.
The Netherlands being a small nation as regards its physical size,
and having been a trading nation for centuries, it is not surprising
that foreign influences, fashions and trends have played a decisive
part in the development of Dutch and therefore its fiction too.
Add to that a strong scholarly tradition, rooted in ancient universities like Leiden in the North, and Leuven in the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium), where the exchange of views and cultural
values were part of general discourse, and it is not difficult to see how the Netherlands, as a hub of European and world trade
through the centuries, should by rights have become in similar
fashion a hub for world culture, with a rich and vibrant national
literature, renowned worldwide.
The fly in the ointment proved to be the predominant influence
throughout the Northern Netherlands of Calvinism, a Protestant
doctrine not really known for its enthusiasm for Art as a whole
and Literature and Drama in could be worse to
the censorious than a form of human endeavour based on freedom
of spirit and boundless imagination? - which in many ways has
shaped not only its adherents in the country over the ages, but the
fabric of Dutch national life and the very language itself. Dogmatic
in its approach and condemnatory, both by conviction and inclination, of most of man's natural actions, desires and dispositions,
Calvinist morality or elements and residues of it, at the very least,
have crept into every nook and cranny of Dutch consciousness and
are now part and parcel of 'being Dutch', to such an extent that, at
a guess, most Dutch people living in the Netherlands today would
not notice their presence in their lives and language, even when
pointed out to them. Not long ago, I heard a good Dutch friend of
devout atheist and (in his own words) a 'paid-up member
of the damned' - explain his inability to go out one Saturday
evening by saying 'Ik moet mezelf nog klaarmaken voor de
Zondag' ('I've still got to get myself ready for Sunday'). Questioned
about it, he had no real explanation as to what precisely he meant
but, even so, it certainly meant something to him, enough indeed to
put off a good night on the tiles!
Let it be no surprise then that a good number of the fantasies
here touch upon and deal with religion, both directly and indirectly.
Whereas The Sacred Butterfly by Johan Andreas Der Mouw treads
the floating paths of ecstasy, The Gospel According to Chabot by
Willem Brakman revisits the crucifixion, taking in trade monopolies,
rural courtship and cross dressing en passant, while Jacob Israel de
Haan's Concerning the Experiences of Helenus Marie Golesco gives an
extraordinary and penetrating perspective, from a Jewish background, on Christ, the Devil and true devotion.
As important in Dutch life is the notion of the burger and its
concomitant burgerlijkheid (a notion perhaps best, but oh, so inadequately 'translated' by a cross between 'middle class' and 'petit
bourgeois'), frequently portrayed in Dutch literature as the source
of much misery, stifling the individual, while at the same time being the butt of derision and scorn. From here it is but a short
step to the morbid, the province of Arnold Aletrino in his In the
Dark, of Jan Hofker in his little gem Rustler, a hauntingly economical
evocation of a man's last steps to the gallows, and of Marcus
Heeresma who, in Dumping Ground, succeeds in combining all the
sensuality of voyeurism and lust on a garbage tip with incisive
criticism of our Western attitudes to the native peoples of South
America.
So where's the fun, the fizz, the wit of Dutch fantasy? Whimsy of a
high order is at the heart of the two fancies by the classic master
of Dutch fiction, Louis Couperus. His The Daughter of Bluebeard and
The Son of Don Juan are splendid examples of his style, his sly
humour and his notably 'modern' thoughts on men and particularly
women, given the date of their writing: 1915. Darker in hue is the
humour of Fritzi Harmsen van Beek in The Taxi Pig while, in
Looking back: the Weapon, Helene Nolthenius sets the trials of
Orpheus in a completely new light, and Huub Beursken's Highest
Honours shows bullish good humour from the generation of
younger writers born in the fifties, an extraordinarily talented and
fruitful bunch, a good number of whom I have been fortunate
enough to be able to include.