Willem Frederik Hermans

Biography

Willem Frederik Hermans (1921-1995) is one of the greatest post-war Dutch authors. Before devoting his entire life to writing, Hermans had been teaching Physical Geography at the University of Groningen for many years. He had already started writing and publishing in magazines at a young age. His polemic and provocative style led to a court case as early as 1952. His caustic pieces were compiled in Mandarijnen op zwavelzuur (Mandarines in Sulphuric Acid, 1963), which was reprinted with additions a number of times. It is Hermans’s belief that in order to survive people have to create own reality. It is inevitable that all these experiences of reality will collide. Language is essential to create order out of chaos and plays an important role in this process. In his essays on Wittgenstein, Hermans studied this problem in depth. In his novels and stories Hermans places his characters in a world of certainty for themselves but equivocal for the reader. It is in this field of tension that the intrigue in De tranen der acacia’s (Acacia’s Tears, 1949) and in De donkere kamer van Damocles (The Darkroom of Damocles, 1958) develops. Although stories such as Moedwil en misverstand (Malice and Misunderstanding) and Paranoia have a surrealistic tendency, Hermans’ novels The Darkroom Of Damocles, Nooit meer slapen (Beyond Sleep), Uit talloos veel miljoenen (From Countless Millions) are more realistic or satirical and everything in his rich oeuvre is subordinate to the author’s pessimistic philosophy.

Titles

Cover Het behouden huis

The Safe House

(Het behouden huis, 1951)

The Safe House is a novella of great literary value. Like the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, it shows the effects of war on individuals. Hermans plumbs the madness of war in a subtle yet gripping way, describing how people are thrown back on their own resources in wartime. Continued...

Cover De donkere kamer van Damocles

The Darkroom of Damocles

(De donkere kamer van Damocles, 1958)

Willem Frederik Hermans was an adolescent in Amsterdam during the Second World War, a period that made an indelible impression on him, compounded by his older sister and cousin committing suicide soon after the German invasion in 1940. Hermans often chooses the war as backdrop for his novels, since it is an environment in which malice and misunderstanding, and the pointlessness of our existence can best be brought to the surface. The Darkroom of Damocles is no exception. Continued...

Cover Nooit meer slapen

Beyond Sleep

(Nooit meer slapen, 1966)

Beyond Sleep is the oppressive story, of young geologist Alfred Issendorf. Like all scientists, he dreams of fame and immortality. Along with a young geologist called Arne and two assistants, he sets off for the North Cape on a research trip, intending to prove that the region’s lakes were created by meteorites. Continued...

Cover Au Pair

Au Pair

(Au Pair, 1989)

Pauline, a Dutch student, wishes to study in Paris and gets a job as an au pair. At the first family she works for, she lives in a miserable little attic room and they make her pay for her breakfasts. In the second family there is an old general, his wife, sons, a grandson and a number of servants. There she is living on Easy Street: she has a beautiful room, clothes, shoes, whatever she desires. She really does not have to lift a finger for anything. Every so often she listens to the general’s stories about the war and about the artist Guys, who has also worked in her home town of Vlissingen. Continued...

Cover In de mist van het schimmenrijk

In The Mist Of The Spirit Realm

(In de mist van het schimmenrijk, 1993)

Willem Frederik Hermans generally makes no attempt to make a secret of his opinions. On the subject of the diary as a literary form, he is on record as describing it as insipid realism, a cheap way to produce a text: “Everything can be coincidental, nothing has to be rounded off.? Continued...

Willem Frederik Hermans

photo Philip Mechanicus

Website author

More information can be found at:
www.willemfrederikhermans.nl

Authors & Titles


Translated Titles

  • Das große Mitleid (Het grote medelijden (novelle)). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1968
  • Au pair (Au pair). Leipzig: Kiepenheuer, 2003
  • Au pair (Au pair). Berlin etc.: Aufbau Taschenbuch, 2005
  • Mörkrummet (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Stockholm: Norstedts, 1962
  • Damokles' mørkerom (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Oslo: Gyldendal, 1962
  • La chambre noire de Damoclès (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Paris: Seuil, 1962
  • The dark room of Damocles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). London etc.: Heinemann, 1962
  • Damokles' mørke kammer (De donkere kamer van Damocles). København: Spektrum, 1961
  • Damokleen pimeä huone (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Porvoo, Helsinki, Juva: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (WSOY), 1963
  • Die Dunkelkammer des Damokles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Leipzig: Kiepenheuer, 2001
  • The darkroom of Damocles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). New York; Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2008
  • Die Dunkelkammer des Damokles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Frankfurt am Main etc.: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 2002
  • Ciemnia Damoklesa (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Warszawa: Alfa, 1994
  • [Ho skoteinós thálamos tou Damoklé] (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Athéna: Kastaniotis, 2005
  • Die Dunkelkammer des Damokles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Berlin etc.: Aufbau Taschenbuch, 2003
  • The darkroom of Damocles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). London: Harvill Secker, 2007
  • La chambre noire de Damoclès (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Paris: Gallimard, 2006
  • El cuarto oscuro de Damocles (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Barcelona: Tusquets, 2009
  • Temná komora Damoklova (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Brno: Host, 2010
  • [(De donkere kamer van Damocles)] (De donkere kamer van Damocles). Nanjing: Yilin,
  • Wedrownik bez skazy (De onversleten wandelaar). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1995
  • Multatuli: yang penuh teka-teki (De raadselachtige Multatuli). Jakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1988
  • Die Tränen der Akazien (De tranen der acacia’s). Darmstadt: Joseph Melzer, 1968
  • Die Tränen der Akazien (De tranen der acacia’s). Leipzig: Kiepenheuer, 2005
  • Die Tränen der Akazien (De tranen der acacia’s). Berlin etc.: Aufbau Taschenbuch, 2007
  • The house of refuge (Het behouden huis). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1961
  • The house of refuge (Het behouden huis). New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966
  • La casa vuota (Het behouden huis). Milano: BUR, 2005
  • La casa vuota (Het behouden huis). Milano: RCS Libri, 2005
  • (Het behouden huis) (Het behouden huis). Berlin etc.: Aufbau,
  • Vers Magnitogorsk (Naar Magnitogorsk). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1991
  • [Podoroz do Mahnitigorska] (Naar Magnitogorsk). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1992
  • (Naar Magnitogorsk) (Naar Magnitogorsk). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1996
  • Nie mehr schlafen (Nooit meer slapen). Tübingen: Rainer Wunderlich, 1982
  • Aldrig mera sova (Nooit meer slapen). Stockholm: Norstedts, 1968
  • Aldri sove mer (Nooit meer slapen). Oslo: Gyldendal, 1992
  • Nie mehr schlafen (Nooit meer slapen). Zürich: Diogenes, 1986
  • [(Nooit meer slapen)] (Nooit meer slapen). Veliko Tarnovo: PIC,
  • Nie mehr schlafen (Nooit meer slapen). Leipzig: Kiepenheuer, 2002
  • Beyond sleep (Nooit meer slapen). New York; Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2007
  • Beyond sleep (Nooit meer slapen). London: Harvill Secker, 2006
  • Nikoli vec spati (Nooit meer slapen). Radovljica: Didakta, 2002
  • Ne plus jamais dormir (Nooit meer slapen). Paris: Gallimard, 2009
  • Igavene uni (Nooit meer slapen). Tallinn: Huma, 2004
  • Nie mehr schlafen (Nooit meer slapen). Berlin etc.: Aufbau Taschenbuch, 2004
  • Soha többé alvás (Nooit meer slapen). Pécs: Jelenkor, 2007
  • [(Nooit meer slapen)] (Nooit meer slapen). Athéna: Kastaniotis,
  • No dormir nunca más (Nooit meer slapen). Barcelona: Tusquets,
  • [(Nooit meer slapen)] (Nooit meer slapen). Or Yehuda: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir,
  • (Nooit meer slapen) (Nooit meer slapen). Brno: Host,
  • [(Nooit meer slapen)] (Nooit meer slapen). Nanjing: Yilin,
  • Unter Professoren (Onder professoren). Zürich: Diogenes, 1986
  • (Onder professoren) (Onder professoren). Berlin etc.: Aufbau,
  • Paranoia (Paranoia). Stockholm: Norstedts, 1965
  • Manuskript, gefunden in einer Klinik (Paranoia). s.l.: n.n.W, 1965
  • Paranoia (Paranoia). : , 2005
  • Périandre (Periander). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1979
  • Death on ice (Nooit meer slapen (fragment)). Muscatine: The Stanley Foundation, 1967
  • W.F. Hermans: an english sampler (Een toerist (verhaal)). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1982
  • Ostatni papieros (De laatste roker (fragment)). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1995
  • (Vier novellen) (Vier novellen). Veliko Tarnovo: PIC,