Read in Dutch (Recommendations)

If you've read something in Dutch but know it is translated into English and want to recommend it - here's the place!

I have read (and very much enjoyed) a number of books by Maarten 't Hart - both fiction and a marvellous book about his love for Bach. I've read them in German, not sure what exactly is translated into English, though... (possibly The Sundial?).

Meneer Maarten 't Hart just bounced in my Amazon basket, hope he didn't hurt his head. You are right, 'The Sundial' is the only book in English, shame the Bach isn't, I'd have liked to read that! Thanks Carolyn.

CK #2- I would very much appreciate if you could translate the Bach book mentioned above, and send it to me. I would, of course, be willing to consider a small fee..... Thanks.

The Sundial has just been ordered from Abebooks. Interesteing sounding book.

As a Dutchman, can I suggest a few favourites of mine, both earlier writers?

The first is Marcellus Emants, who published in the second half of the 19th century. Marcellus Emants is probably the earliest Dutch writer who focussed on psychological portrayal. His novel Een nagelaten bekentenis is a Dutch classic and dates from 1894. There is an English translation, by none other than J.M. Coetzee, who named it A Posthumous Confession
(ISBN: 0805781528).

The second is Louis Couperus, who published from the 1880's until the 1920's. He was born in the Dutch East Indies - present day Indonesia - but grew up in The Hague. He wrote short stories, novels depicting contemporary life, but also novels about classical antiquity. He travelled widely and published his impressions in a newspaper column. He had and has a reputation as a dandy and a decadent (though married, Couperus was gay) and one of his most daring books is De berg van licht, about the Roman emperor Heliogabalus. Couperus was translated in German and English during his lifetime and perhaps his 'colonial' novel De stille kracht can serve to get to know him. A translation appeared in 1921 and not that long ago was reissued: The Hidden Force. A Story of Modern Java. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. 1921, London 1992.

I hope I'm not telling you too much you already know...

Knarf - thank you for the information on those two authors. I am intrigued. I am especially keen to order the Emants book as I have just read Coetzee with great admiration (Boyhood and Youth). More TBRs.

Do you have any modern (current day) suggestions? - would need to be in English translation for me.

Thanks

two lovely authors I didn't know about, thank you Knarf, your recommendations are very welcome, and have both found themselves in my amazon basket for my next order. LibraryThing is certainly a wonderful place for getting suggestions from fellow readers.

I've read two books by Couperus, The Hidden Force and Ecstacy (hmm, no touchstone) - I wasn't too keen on the latter, although it's a nice little edition published by Hesperus Press.

Has anyone mentioned Multatuli already? I loved Max Havelaar, and have two more of his works in German translation, still to be read.

I also like Cees Nooteboom - again, forgive me if he's been mentioned already. I think Rituals is considered to be one of his best works, but there are so many... Any further recommendations would be gratefully received!

I've just read a very interesting article about A.F.Th. van der Heijden, referred to as the Proust of the Netherlands - does anyone know anything about him? I'm planning to invest in the Movo-Tapes, but it's over 800 pages long, ugh, so don't expect any reviews for a while!

Edited to add: Coetzee has also translated a beautiful anthology of Dutch poetry, Landscape with Rowers (for some strange reason, I hadn't yet entered it into my library, but I have NOW, haha!)...

#4, why, no problem!

I dashed off to Amazon to plug in A.F.Th. van der Heijden Carolyn, but alas, not one in English grrr! I haven't been able to get the poem Vondell's work in English either.

I do have both Max Havelaar and Landscape with Rowers on my dutch shelves. Well actually the Mutatuli is in a 'read soon' pile at the moment. I have another anthology of dutch/flemish poetry - will get the title and post it. I've also read a couple of Neeteboom, but can't remember which off the top of my head, some years ago now.

Some writers I have read and liked: Pauline Slot, Anna Enquist, Arnon Grunberg. Of the last one, I have only read Tirza sofar which was excellent. I don't know if any have been translated into English, though.

I tried to find out if there's a decent website in English with information on recent translations of Dutch literature and the best I can come up with is www.nlpvf.nl. This organisation promotes Dutch literature abroad - so there's a bias there - but factually it should be all right.

Oh my word - what a wonderful site!
(Something tells me our thread host will go wild for it!!)

ooh ooh, I can see my amazon basket taking a bashing now knarf - thanks for that. Poetry Review top of the list!

Two books I enjoyed are Phileine says sorry and Gala, both by Ronald Giphart. Really funny! Phileine says sorry has also been made into a movie (Dutch only I think).

Oh, and you should really also try Out of Mind and Eclipse by J. Bernlef, they're very impressive!

Thank you for the suggestions Vonni - I shall check them out and see what I can get any in English from Amazon.

Carolyn - I got my copy of 'Sundial' which I will add to the reading pile.

A while ago Karenwardill asked me if I could suggest more recent authors than the the two I came up with earlier. Well, how a about F. Bordewijk, a versatile writer from the 1930's onward. Unfortunately the only title available in English is Karakter (translated as Character), but on the other hand, it is a classic.

Thanks Knarf - I will try and source and read this book, Karakter. I also just received The Sundial, Caroline, so we should compare when our TBRs are a bit lower.

I have just persued Abebooks - and the English title for the Bordewijk book is Character - a novel about a boy and his father.