The Dedalus Book of Dutch Fantasy

The Dedalus Book of Dutch Fantasy is the most ambitious and wide-ranging anthology of Dutch fiction ever to appear in English, and reads like the Who's Who of Dutch Literature, with stories by the undisputed contemporary masters such as Gerard Reve and Harry Mulisch, and classic authors such as Couperus, Van Schendel and Vestdijk, as well as many of the rising stars of the younger generation; Frans Kellendonk, A.F.TH. Van Der Heijden and P.F. Thomese. The stereotype of the Dutch that most immediately springs to mind is that of a clean, orderly, and down-to-earth people. Richard Huijing reveals the other side of this society; that of a dark netherworld of the macabre, the weird, the perverted, the violent and the fancifully impossible conjured up by a host of the finest writers in the Dutch language of the last hundred years.contentsINTRODUCTION 9STORIESArnold Aletrino In the Dark 15Jan Arends Breakfast 24Maarten Asscher The Secret of Dr Raoul Sarrazin 38Belcampo Funeral Rites 49Huub Beurskens Highest Honours 63J. M. A. Biesheuvel Biker at Sea 74Willem Brakman The Gospel According to Chabot 78Remco Campert The Disappearance of Bertje S. 97Louis Couperus Bluebeard's Daughter 100The Son of Don Juan 106Johan Andreas Der The Sacred Butterfly 112MouwLodewijk van Deyssel Curious Things on the Plain 118Inez van Dullemen After the Hurricane 120Jacob Israel de Haan Concerning the Experiences of Helens Marie Golesco 130Fritzi Harmsen van Beek The Taxi Pig 139Marcus Heeresma Dumping Ground 142A. F. Th. van der Pompeii Funebri 155HeijdenJan Hofker Rustler 169Frans Kellendonk Death and Life of Thomas Chatterton 171Anton Koolhaas Baldur D. Quorg, Spider 183Frans Kusters The Full Diagnosis 198Harry Mulisch Decorated Man 202Caret van Nievelt Souls Errant 218Helene Nolthenius Looking Back: the Weapon 228Gerard Reve Werther Nieland 232Arthur van Schendel The White Woman 283Willem Schurmann The Unbalanced King 288Jan Siebelink Affection 309P. F. Thomese Leviathan 319Simon Vestdijk The Stone Face 350Jan Wolkers Feathered Friends 359NOTES ON THE AUTHORS 373About the AuthorHuijing is a well known Dutch author