Each book is a danger. This title is a reference to an essay written by Andreas Burnier. Upon her death in 2002, it was found that at that time no single work of Burnier was in print, and publishers rushed to reprint some of her works. Also, a compilation of interviews, letters, essays and fragments was compiled, and published under the title Een gevaar dat de ziel in wil. Essays, brieven en interviews 1965-2002: A danger that wants to enter the soul.

As well as both taking their titles from the same source, nl Each book is a danger that wants to enter the soul, these two books are companion volumes, both compilations of interviews, letters, fragments and essays.

Elk boek is een gevaar is published in the prestigious Prive Domein series, a book series which was previously exclusively for ego documents by (dead) authors. While previously the editions could exist of inedited materials, they were usually selected reprints of published ego documents such as diaries or correspondence. However, for the past 25 years, the series includes ego documents of living authors, including diaries which were specifically written for inclusion in the series. Elk boek is een gevaar is a new variant in this genre in the sense that it is a selection made by an external editor, rather than the author, and that the author has not willed or consented to the publication of these materials. Although this does not seem so unusual, the current edition does seem to include a lot of material of very questionable quality. It isn't difficult to imagine that the original author would have second thoughts about publishing these materials.

In the introduction, the editor, Ronit Palache, explains how she dug into and read every scrap of paper in the archive of Andreas Burnier before starting with her selection. This thoroughness suggests that she intended to get to the core, to reveal the essence of Burnier. The selection reads like a toppled archive. It seems to consist of rare and unusual letters and fragments which likely were never intended for publication. Much of the material is extremely boring. This is the selection of someone who was obsessed with her subject, who wanted to prove something (to herself) or who may have been asked to dig up material which was previously unpublished, and had better remained that way. I can, proverbially, imagine the author turning over in her grave. ( )