Eric
22-Apr-2008, 12:04
Simon Vestdijk (1898-1971) is in my opinion one of the very top Dutch novelists of the 20th century. By "Dutch", I mean from the Netherlands, as the term "Dutch literature" is often used loosely to mean from the Netherlands plus Flanders.
The English-language Wikipedia article, on this rare occasion, fails miserably to give the slightest inkling that this novelist, poet, essayist and music-lover was anything other than a run-of-the-mill novelist who wrote "too many" books (52 novels, plus other things!).
For someone brought up in a country where it is frowned upon if you are great, Vestdijk achieved a great deal:
1) The Novels
Vestdijk is best known for his almost Proustian portraits of childhood, growing up, and adult relationships between men and women. He wrote several suites of novels, one, termed the "Anton Wachter Cycle" [8 novels; 1934-1960] consists of novels about Vestdijk's alter ego, growing up in a small town and ending up in Amsterdam, the capital. Also loosely attached to this cycle is the novel "Kind tussen vier vrouwen" (Child Among Four Women) [written in the 1930s; published posthumously].
So, that's nine novels so far out of fifty-two.
He also wrote about difficult relationships between men and women. One early novel is entitled (I'll do them in English only, from now on) "Else B?hler - a German Housemaid" [1935] about a German girl who comes to work as a maid in a Dutch household in the 1930s, and the ambiguous feelings of the Dutch protagonist during the rise of Nazism in neighbouring Germany.
In the 1930s, he tried once Joycean novel "Mr Visser's Descent into Hell" [1936] but never returned to a Joycean style.
During World War Two, Vestdijk was interned as a hostage by the Germans who had occupied Holland. They would be shot if the Dutch Resistance got too successful. Only a couple were. But this led to another string to Vestdijk's bow: two novels dealing with the occupation, resistance and the aftermath of the war (long before W.F. Hermans and Harry Mulisch wrote about the same themes).
Vestdijk also wrote a number of more popular historical novels.
One unusual novel "The Waiter and the Living" [1949] is a kind of Kafkaesque book bout people who are rounded up, and sent by coach to a kind of hangar-like building or deserted railway station.
Then his trilogy dealing with the (fictional) composer Victor Slingerland.
Other novels include one about a lesbian couple in the Alps, about a hallucinating psychotic, and one or two people who have mental of physical problems with their health (Vestdijk was once a medical student).
Vestdijk also wrote about 30 short-stories (one of which I've translated but not published).
2) The Non-Fiction
Vestdijk loved classical music and wrote books on Mahler, Sibelius, and Bruckner. Also a book about the theory of the fugue.
He wrote a book about Dostoevsky, and many essays on literary subjects.
Also a book about the future of religion, about illness in literature and about the psychology of war, plus one about astrology and science.
3) The Poetry
Vestdijk was also a prolific poet. But his poetry has not received the critical acclaim of his novels.
*
As you might imagine, Vestdijk's life was uneventful, apart from his time as a hostage of the Germans. Otherwise he would never have written so much. You can see how much, just by looking at the titles, at:
http://www.svestdijk.nl/biblio/eerste-drukken-lijst.html
And the Dutch-language Wikipedia article is a lot more informative than the English-language one:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Vestdijk
In English there is only "The Garden Where the Brass Band Played" and "Rum Island", the latter more of a historical adventure novel, nowhere near Vestdijk at his best.
The English-language Wikipedia article, on this rare occasion, fails miserably to give the slightest inkling that this novelist, poet, essayist and music-lover was anything other than a run-of-the-mill novelist who wrote "too many" books (52 novels, plus other things!).
For someone brought up in a country where it is frowned upon if you are great, Vestdijk achieved a great deal:
1) The Novels
Vestdijk is best known for his almost Proustian portraits of childhood, growing up, and adult relationships between men and women. He wrote several suites of novels, one, termed the "Anton Wachter Cycle" [8 novels; 1934-1960] consists of novels about Vestdijk's alter ego, growing up in a small town and ending up in Amsterdam, the capital. Also loosely attached to this cycle is the novel "Kind tussen vier vrouwen" (Child Among Four Women) [written in the 1930s; published posthumously].
So, that's nine novels so far out of fifty-two.
He also wrote about difficult relationships between men and women. One early novel is entitled (I'll do them in English only, from now on) "Else B?hler - a German Housemaid" [1935] about a German girl who comes to work as a maid in a Dutch household in the 1930s, and the ambiguous feelings of the Dutch protagonist during the rise of Nazism in neighbouring Germany.
In the 1930s, he tried once Joycean novel "Mr Visser's Descent into Hell" [1936] but never returned to a Joycean style.
During World War Two, Vestdijk was interned as a hostage by the Germans who had occupied Holland. They would be shot if the Dutch Resistance got too successful. Only a couple were. But this led to another string to Vestdijk's bow: two novels dealing with the occupation, resistance and the aftermath of the war (long before W.F. Hermans and Harry Mulisch wrote about the same themes).
Vestdijk also wrote a number of more popular historical novels.
One unusual novel "The Waiter and the Living" [1949] is a kind of Kafkaesque book bout people who are rounded up, and sent by coach to a kind of hangar-like building or deserted railway station.
Then his trilogy dealing with the (fictional) composer Victor Slingerland.
Other novels include one about a lesbian couple in the Alps, about a hallucinating psychotic, and one or two people who have mental of physical problems with their health (Vestdijk was once a medical student).
Vestdijk also wrote about 30 short-stories (one of which I've translated but not published).
2) The Non-Fiction
Vestdijk loved classical music and wrote books on Mahler, Sibelius, and Bruckner. Also a book about the theory of the fugue.
He wrote a book about Dostoevsky, and many essays on literary subjects.
Also a book about the future of religion, about illness in literature and about the psychology of war, plus one about astrology and science.
3) The Poetry
Vestdijk was also a prolific poet. But his poetry has not received the critical acclaim of his novels.
*
As you might imagine, Vestdijk's life was uneventful, apart from his time as a hostage of the Germans. Otherwise he would never have written so much. You can see how much, just by looking at the titles, at:
http://www.svestdijk.nl/biblio/eerste-drukken-lijst.html
And the Dutch-language Wikipedia article is a lot more informative than the English-language one:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Vestdijk
In English there is only "The Garden Where the Brass Band Played" and "Rum Island", the latter more of a historical adventure novel, nowhere near Vestdijk at his best.