Point Books Supposing De donkere kamer van Damokles
| Original Title: | De donkere kamer van Damocles |
| ISBN: | 9028204652 (ISBN13: 9789028204652) |
| Edition Language: | Dutch URL http://www.willemfrederikhermans.nl/tekst/jans037bibl01_01/jans037bibl01_01_0021.htm |
| Characters: | Henri Osewoudt, Dorbeck, Marianne Sondaar |
| Setting: | Voorschoten(Netherlands) Amsterdam(Netherlands) Leiden(Netherlands) …more Breda(Netherlands) …less |
| Literary Awards: | BTBA Best Translated Book Award Nominee for Fiction shortlist (2009) |
Willem Frederik Hermans
Hardcover | Pages: 335 pages Rating: 3.83 | 8077 Users | 285 Reviews
Chronicle To Books De donkere kamer van Damokles
De donkere kamer van Damokles vertelt het verhaal van Henri Osewoudt, sigarenhandelaar te Voorschoten. Tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog ontmoet hij de verzetsman Dorbeck, die sprekend op hem lijkt op één ding na, dat hij zwart haar heeft terwijl Osewoudt blond is, en die hem opdrachten geeft die hij gewillig uitvoert.Na de bezetting lijkt alles zich tegen hem te keren en wordt hij gekwalificeerd als fantast en landverrader. Hij tracht wanhopig het tegendeel te bewijzen.
List About Books De donkere kamer van Damokles
| Title | : | De donkere kamer van Damokles |
| Author | : | Willem Frederik Hermans |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 335 pages |
| Published | : | March 1990 by Van Oorschot (first published November 1958) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Dutch Literature. Literature. Classics. Academic. School. War. Historical. Historical Fiction |
Rating About Books De donkere kamer van Damokles
Ratings: 3.83 From 8077 Users | 285 ReviewsCriticize About Books De donkere kamer van Damokles
A sheer nihilism,yet paradoxically spontaneous one. It Sounds to be narrated in praise of nothingness .Anyway ,when one's life turned to be irredeamble ,and no hope flickering in the distance ,what should one adheres to ? When life is no longer wants us to be in it ?This is the story of how the war can reduce everything we have , possess or believe in to an absolute null.Considering Hermans's novel as a pessimistic one , would not be accurate,, I found him to be a realistic writer who justThe main character was too unpredictable. The book starts with a very pushover attitude, and a couple of chapters later he's this brave, corageous patriotic. Absolutely inconsistent and definately unreliable. Also, I would have liked to be told in a better way when 4 years went by! From one line to the other, he had been in prison for 4 years! You had to be very on the alert to spot this things (and I am not an attentive reader).Another annoying thing was the length of the chapters! I am an
edit 2017/08/13:2.5 stars. last time around i only got to about page 170 (3/5th of the book), this time i read the second half as well which is SO much better and more interesting than the first half. still, the main character sucks so yea, def not my fave. orig. review:1.5 stars.i had to drag myself through this book; the only theme that was even remotely interesting was the question of dorbeck's existence. couldnt care less about the characters and if i didnt have to read it for school i
I did not think I would like as much as I did. I wasn't very impressed by Nooit Meer Slapen, which is also by Hermans. This novel, however, was very interesting, and had a good pace. His style neither appealed to me nor did it put me off; it was quite factual. I like how it is at first quite a simple war story, but when I realised that Osewoudt might not be a reliable narrator, I started questioning things that happened before in the novel. Simply a good book. +1 for Dutch literature.
Surface All the Way ThroughAfter reading the first 20 pages or so of Hermans's Darkroom of Damocles, I began to suspect a problem with the English translation. The text is spare to the point of aridity with hardly any description of people or places. Similarly, there is no psychological commentary; motives, reflections, emotions are unstated. Dialogue is presented more like a punching match than a conversation. Sentences are terse; paragraphs are short. Transitions are unexpected and somewhat
I must confess that I expected The Darkroom of Damocles to be a dark and difficult book. The title, the description of the author as one of the most important Western European authors to emerge from the postwar period, and that oh so dark cover all suggested that to me. But I was wrong. This is a terribly readable book, simply, clearly and very well written, and it is very easy to keep turning the pages to see what happens. Its almost a case of serious literary meets gripping thriller. And I
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