De paleizen van het geheugen

by Gerrit Komrij, Willem van Malsen (illustrator)

Drie essays over 'het beschrijven van dingen'.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Gerrit Jan Komrij was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his contemporaries. He acquired a reputation for his prose in the late 1970s, writing acerbic essays and columns often critical of writers, television programs, and politicians. As a literary critic and especially as an anthologist he had a formative influence on Dutch literature: his 1979 anthology of Dutch poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries reformed the canon, and was followed by anthologies of Dutch poetry of the 17th and 18th centuries, of Afrikaans poetry, and of children's poetry. Those anthologies and a steady stream of prose and poetry publications solidified his reputation as one of the country's leading writers and critics; he was awarded the highest literary awards including the P. C. Hooft Award (1993), and from 2000 to 2004 he was the Dutch Dichter des Vaderlands (Poet Laureate). Komrij died in 2012 at age 68.

Reviews

[Elisa Goudriaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een prachtig essay van Gerrit Komrij over het wezen der dingen en de lading die willekeurige dingen mee kunnen torsen. Een scala van herinneringen kan opeens ontstaan, doordat een ding de sluier van het verleden even oplicht. Het boekje is voorzien van een immense hoeveelheid vertederende illustraties van Willem van Malsen, die soms een lach, maar vaak zelfs een schaterlach oproepen.