Dutch Literature

[Sybarite]

... There seems to be a morbid fascination among people for the seamier side of literature: the disease, the sexual side, and so on...

You'll find the same in music too. Now if only people would listen to those nice composers who didn't have syphilis ... I mean, if they'd stop listening to that Beethoven man for instance ...

 

[Patrick Murtha]

By the way, I'm not sure I get the point of discussing and dismissing Reve without having read him.

I have a great Ady link, so I'll start a writer thread on him.

 

[Eric]

Do start a thread somewhere else about Ady; it would be interesting. I first heard his name mentioned in the mid-1980s when I studied a couple of terms of Hungarian, and the literary canon was introduced to us. Regrettably, I never learnt enough Hungarian to read even a newspaper article in the original, let alone poetry. (Jokingly, I wonder whether Bill Oddie's got Hungarian forebears, as his surname is pronounced more or less the same as that of the poet, as the Hungarian "a" is almost an "o" sound.)

But to return to the promotion of Dutch literature and its translation into English, people such as Ina Rilke, Paul Vincent and Susan Massoty have translated quite a bit, but I never get the feeling that, in Britain, Dutch literature as a whole has a profile. It's all one-off books, or sometimes a couple by the same author. There are movements and individuals who could be brought to the fore, such as Simon Vestdijk as mentioned earlier, but also contemporary authors, such as Leon de Winter, Margriet de Moor and Maarten 't Hart. And F.B. Hotz and L.H. Wiener are good short-story writers.

From an older generation, people have told me that Arthur van Schendel is good, though the Wikipedia article is quite uninformative, the DBNL article is just another bloody list of publications, and from the various things on the net, even in Dutch (!) you get rather a limited picture.

There is also Frederik van Eeden whose work looks very interesting, but whose books I've never got round to reading. At least one of his books is available in English.

 

[Stewart]

Do start a thread somewhere else about Ady; it would be interesting.

He did: Ady Endre.

 

[Eric]

Thanks, Stewart. I'm sticking to clogs, windmills and spliffs on this thread.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

From an older generation, people have told me that Arthur van Schendel is good, though the Wikipedia article is quite uninformative, the DBNL article is just another bloody list of publications, and from the various things on the net, even in Dutch (!) you get rather a limited picture.

Martin Seymour-Smith is very enthusiastic about van Schendel. I count that five of his novels have been translated into English:

Grey Birds
The House in Haarlem
The ‘Johanna Maria’
John Company
The Waterman

That's a good tally, out-numbered among the writers of his generation only by the sixteen (at least) translated novels of Louis Couperus (who also had several volumes of non-fiction and a book of short stories published in translation). This count of the novels is open to revision; I seem to keep finding more.

Arrogance
The Comedians
Dr. Adriaan
Ecstasy
Eline Vere
Fate
The Hidden Force
Inevitable
The Later Life
Majesty
Old People and the Things that Pass
Psyche
Small Souls
The Tour
The Twilight of the Souls
Xerxes

This website, Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, is helpful:

http://www.nlpvf.nl/

 

[Eric]

Patrick Murtha, the van Schendel tally is interesting. The next challenge is actually getting hold of copies in libraries or second-hand bookshops. Maybe Amazon can help there.

As for the NLPVF website, I looked under Couperus, but cannot actually find a list of exactly what by him has been translated into English, by whom and when. Did you find such a list?

A further question is that when you see, for instance, The Hidden Force translated various times, are these the same translation reprinted, or an entirely new one?

When you see a title mentioned in English, this is not necessarily a translation, unless the name of the publishing house, the year and the translator are mentioned. Though I know that Paul Vincent has translated three for The Pushkin Press: Ecstacy, Inevitable, Psyche.

There is an article in Dutch about Couperus in English by this same Paul Vincent at:

LOUIS COUPERUS | Website van het Louis Couperus Genootschap

 

[Patrick Murtha]

The NLPVF website doesn't make things easy since it lists translations for each author into all languages together, in lists on the right of the screen. I'm not sure these lists are comprehensive, but I found a few translations I was unaware of in Couperus's case (with publishers and publication dates).

I put the Couperus list together from all over, and I'm still working on it. I use Bookfinder and the multiple sources at LibraryThing (Library of Congress, British Library, Yale University Library, etc.) to do a lot of this research. As you know, translations are hiding all over the place -- although, as you rightly note, more than a mere title in English is needed to "confirm the sighting" (this is like bird-watching!). One also has to be alert to magazine translations and anthology translations and not confuse these with full books. Details of the translations themselves are sometimes harder to come by, and even seeing the same translator listed on two editions of the same title doesn't mean the texts are exactly the same; editors can and do revise earlier translations.

 

[Eric]

Yes, Patrick, I suspected it was a bit like that. Though it's not impossible to miss something obvious on some websites.

My comments on the Kross stories on the Estonian thread regarding my "ghost translation" say it all. If Amazon can't get it right, the rest of us will suffer.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

Couperus bibliography update:

Arrogance and Xerxes are apparently the same work. So make that fifteen novels.

The two translated Couperus travel books are Eastward and Nippon. The translated short story collection is Eighteen Tales.

 

[Eric]

Patrick Murtha: we're still a bit short on who did the translation, into which language, who the publisher was, when it was published, and was it a reprint, or an entirely new translation. All these matters matter.

 

[nnyhav]

Just got the Archipelago fall catalog

Couperus' Eline Vere trans Ina Rilke coming next spring.

Next door (same language) Hugo Claus' Wonder trans Michael Henry Heim is the current release.

 

[cuchulain]

Thanks, nnyhav. Did not know of that publisher. Definitely want to get Wonder.

 

[Eric]

Interesting. Two more translations of classics from Dutch. Heim has translated Ugre?ic and Czech books, if I remember rightly.

This is what the foundation for the promotion of Dutch literature has to say:

Amazement (De verwondering)

A gripping story of temptation

Victor-Denijs De Rijckel, a self-conscious and sexually troubled language teacher, is asked by the headmaster to prepare a flattering introduction for the speech the latter is going to give in Oostende. De Rijckel, who has had to put up with the headmaster?s arrogance for years, chooses to attend a bewildering masquerade ball in the city?s casino instead. Overwhelmed by a boisterous feeling of liberty, he watches an austerely dressed woman refusing the advances of a hapless admirer. When the woman leaves for the beach, De Rijckel and the unfortunate admirer cannot keep up with her. The following morning, a thirteen year-old pupil invites De Rijckel on a trip to the village of Hekegem, a trip that promises to offer the teacher additional glimpses of his object of desire.

In Hekegem?s Almout Castle, the two continue their quest for the woman, but the teacher soon finds himself in the midst of a secret society of Flemish-nationalist fanatics honouring the memory of the mysterious lieutenant Crabbe, a former ss officer. De Rijckel gradually loses control of the situation. When he realizes that his role is changing from witness to accomplice, he tries to disentangle himself from the oppressively hagiographic mythology surrounding Crabbe, clinging on to entirely impotent notions of duty and morality. When he finally manages to escape from the castle and finds refuge in a pub, other customers accuse him of paedophilia. Sandra will save him from the villagers, but he will have to rescue himself from the imminent darkness of lunacy.

In Amazement, the graphic events are recounted in many mutually enriching, if often contradictory, ways: not only does Korneel, De Rijckel?s psychiatrist in the mental institution, force the deranged teacher to write down what happened at Almout in a more or less linear manner, but De Rijckel manages to keep a secret diary as well as yet another notebook, containing crucial details concerning the people who drove him insane.

In Claus? magisterial novel, the baroque plot is intertwined with strong psychological portraits, scenes from Flemish military history and lurid images of desire. Eminently readable as an adventure story, this scintillating tour de force also harbours an array of emotions and densely textured meanings. Amazement is without any doubt one of the landmarks of twentieth-century Dutch literature.

 

[Stewart]

There's a couple more contemporary Dutch titles that have appeared recently in UK stores.

The Angel Maker, Stefan Brijs
The Twin, Gerbrand Bakker
​

 

[JPS]

I recommend three titles available in translation by Tim Krabb?: The Vanishing, The Cave and Delay. The first was made into a small masterpiece of a film in Dutch and French by George Sluizer (avoid at all costs the American remake). All the novels have common themes, and are short and utterly gripping, especially the first two.

 

[Stewart]

I recommend three titles available in translation by Tim Krabb?: The Vanishing, The Cave and Delay. The first was made into a small masterpiece of a film in Dutch and French by George Sluizer (avoid at all costs the American remake).

I though the film, Spoorloos, was better than the book, but that's because I found the translation wanting. There's a thread on it here.

 

[Mirabell]

I recommend three titles available in translation by Tim Krabb?: The Vanishing, The Cave and Delay. The first was made into a small masterpiece of a film in Dutch and French by George Sluizer (avoid at all costs the American remake). All the novels have common themes, and are short and utterly gripping, especially the first two.

that movie was awesome
and yes the remake was poor
even though it was done by sluizer himself

 

[cuchulain]

Interesting. Two more translations of classics from Dutch. Heim has translated Ugre?ic and Czech books, if I remember rightly.

This is what the foundation for the promotion of Dutch literature has to say:

Another thanks. Looks like Amazement is a must-read.

 

[JPS]

that movie was awesome
and yes the remake was poor
even though it was done by sluizer himself

And Sluizer has pretty much disowned the remake. A film has been made of The Cave but hasn't as yet been released here. It's a fascinating tale of fate and free will, in much the same way The Vanishing is.

By the way, no less than Stanley Kubrick considered the film a masterpiece.