Hermans’s masterpiece warmly received in British press
The English-language publication of Nooit meer slapen (1966) by Willem Frederik Hermans, Beyond Sleep, has been received in the British press as a forgotten masterpiece – ‘unquestionably one of the finest European novels of the post-war period and long overdue for wider appreciation’, as Brian Morton formulates it in the Sunday Herald. The Foundation for the Promotion and Translation of Dutch Literature (NLPVF) has long championed an English-language publication of this work, which has now finally been realized by the renowned English publisher Harvill/Secker.
‘An impressive, compelling novel’, writes Paul Binding in The Independent, which primarily refers to Hermans’s ability to portray his main character, a nerd in Binding’s view, in such a way that the reader immediately identifies with him. And in The Guardian, the well-known English author Michel Faber writes: ‘Beyond Sleep is an engaging yarn once it hits its strike, intermittently thought-provoking, frequently funny, well worth investigating.’ Faber adds that he eagerly looks forward to the translation of The Darkroom of Damocles in 2007. He alludes to this novel as being ‘as disturbing and powerful as anything by Joseph Heller or Kurt Vonnegut’. In The Times, Ian Brunskill articulates his surprise that Willem Frederik Hermans apparently has an antipathy to ‘Dutch complacency, Dutch provincialism and Dutch reluctance to face the big questions in life’, and calls Beyond Sleep ‘a welcome if belated introduction to an original and challenging voice in modern European literature’. In the Irish Times, Eileen Battersby comments on this ‘European classic and landmark post-war novel’: ‘Beyond Sleep is fresh and funny (…) It could easily have been published this year for the first time (…) A masterclass in the art of realist narrative.’
The translation, by Ina Rilke, a much-acclaimed translator and winner of the Vondel Translation Prize, is also praised: ‘In Ina Rilke’s lively and graceful translation, Hermans’s novel does what so few do: it makes one see and feel life afresh’ (The Independent). ‘Ina Rilke has done a stunningly good job. Hermans’s preceding book, De donkere kamer van Damocles (The Darkroom of Damocles) is being published in English next year. I hope she got the nod for that as well’ (Sunday Herald). ‘Ina Rilke’s translation is fluent and finds clever solutions to tough challenges’ (The Guardian). And ‘The characteristic directness has been ably rendered in Ina Rilke’s translation, for which she (…) will no doubt receive an award’ (The Irish Times).
A translation of Nooit meer slapen is also being prepared in France (Gallimard), Hungary (Jelenkor), Greece (Kastaniotis), and the USA (Overlook Press). Translations have recently appeared in Estonia, Slovenia, and in Germany in a new paperback edition published by Aufbau Verlag. Foreign publishers may request a subsidy from the NLPVF to cover the translation costs.
Maria Vlaar
