Maarten 't Hart
DiscussãoDutch writing in English - An appreciation
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1Caroline_McElwee
I thought I would start this thread now, so that we could add to it once those of us who have The Sundial have read it, and can post our discussion/reviews.
2edwinbcn
Verlovingstijd
Finished reading: 11 January 2011
Maarten 't Hart is a mainstream Dutch author. Some of his short stories, and three of his novels have been published in English, viz. Een vlucht regenwulpen translated as A Flight of Curlews (trans. 1986), De aansprekers translated as Bearers of Bad Tidings (trans. 1983), and De zonnewijzer translated as The Sundial (trans. 2004), none of which owned by LT members.
't Hart is not an easily likeable author. He is one of a number of Dutch authors, among them Hans Warren and Jan Siebelink whose upbringing steeped them deeply in what could be termed a type of fanatic Protestantism. In the former two writers, both originating from small God fearing communities in the south-west of the Netherlands, this has produced an apparently deep conflict both in life and fiction of reconciling life and faith, even though 't Hart claims to have renounced the Christian faith during his student years.
As a postgrad. student, I worked at a bookbinder, and was occasionally allowed to bring back home books the binding of which did not pass muster. So, I struggled through the 969 pages Verzamelde verhalen (Collected Stories), and loathed the book thoroughly.
I like neither the work nor the man. His public appearance as "Maartje 't Hart" ("Maartje" is the feminine diminutive of "Maarten"), in drag, is, I believe, indicative of a twisted mind. If 't Hart would be a closeted queer, I would not be surprised.
't Hart is a very productive writer. Before his professional career as a writer, he studied biology and took a PhD in ethology. The study of biology, plants and insects, features in some of his stories. In addition, 't Hart is passionate about Classical music, notably Bach and has published on that.
My appreciation for 't Hart is mostly for the work in which he is able to avoid (his rebellion against) the Christian faith, particularly those novels in which biology plays a role. I studied biology myself for a year, hence my interest.
In my opinion Verlovingstijd is not an altogether successful novel. My objection is mainly that the structure seems flawed, it would seem as if the author combined two pieces of writing and added a conclusion to tie things up. The first part seems only loosely connected to the second, largest chunk of the novel, with a conclusion, which mainly picks up threads from the first part.
I most enjoyed reading the first part of the novel as in this part 't Hart uses a lot of words which I had always thought of as belonging to a regiolect of Dutch. I have not heard anyone use these non-standard Dutch words and expressions for a long time, and had long assumed they were very specific for people mainly using standard Dutch from the area of my hometown, such as my grand-mother, my parents and some of my classmates at high school. The abundant use of these words in the first 80 pages of the book suggests the author enjoyed including them here, perhaps to highlight this (disappearing?) form of speech.
The main premise of the story is that as two friends grow up, one of them always 'steals' the girlfriends of the other. This is the story of the two men in the first part of the book. In the last part of the book, the aged mother of one of the men admits that she has life-long been married to the wrong man. The middle part of the book is tells the life story of the son. This part of the book repeats all previous story lines in novels of 't Hart, not very interesting and mainly repetitive. The structure which connects the first and the last part of the book is a ride in a touring car bus, hired to bring the whole family to the funeral of the deceased husband of the aged mother. The family boards the bus in the southwest of Holland, to take them to the funeral in the northeast, suggesting a very long ride -- a bus ride long enough to tell the story?
Other books I have read by Maarten 't Hart:
Stenen voor een ransuil
Ik had een wapenbroeder
Een vlucht regenwulpen
Verzamelde verhalen
Laatste zomernacht
Finished reading: 11 January 2011
Maarten 't Hart is a mainstream Dutch author. Some of his short stories, and three of his novels have been published in English, viz. Een vlucht regenwulpen translated as A Flight of Curlews (trans. 1986), De aansprekers translated as Bearers of Bad Tidings (trans. 1983), and De zonnewijzer translated as The Sundial (trans. 2004), none of which owned by LT members.
't Hart is not an easily likeable author. He is one of a number of Dutch authors, among them Hans Warren and Jan Siebelink whose upbringing steeped them deeply in what could be termed a type of fanatic Protestantism. In the former two writers, both originating from small God fearing communities in the south-west of the Netherlands, this has produced an apparently deep conflict both in life and fiction of reconciling life and faith, even though 't Hart claims to have renounced the Christian faith during his student years.
As a postgrad. student, I worked at a bookbinder, and was occasionally allowed to bring back home books the binding of which did not pass muster. So, I struggled through the 969 pages Verzamelde verhalen (Collected Stories), and loathed the book thoroughly.
I like neither the work nor the man. His public appearance as "Maartje 't Hart" ("Maartje" is the feminine diminutive of "Maarten"), in drag, is, I believe, indicative of a twisted mind. If 't Hart would be a closeted queer, I would not be surprised.
't Hart is a very productive writer. Before his professional career as a writer, he studied biology and took a PhD in ethology. The study of biology, plants and insects, features in some of his stories. In addition, 't Hart is passionate about Classical music, notably Bach and has published on that.
My appreciation for 't Hart is mostly for the work in which he is able to avoid (his rebellion against) the Christian faith, particularly those novels in which biology plays a role. I studied biology myself for a year, hence my interest.
In my opinion Verlovingstijd is not an altogether successful novel. My objection is mainly that the structure seems flawed, it would seem as if the author combined two pieces of writing and added a conclusion to tie things up. The first part seems only loosely connected to the second, largest chunk of the novel, with a conclusion, which mainly picks up threads from the first part.
I most enjoyed reading the first part of the novel as in this part 't Hart uses a lot of words which I had always thought of as belonging to a regiolect of Dutch. I have not heard anyone use these non-standard Dutch words and expressions for a long time, and had long assumed they were very specific for people mainly using standard Dutch from the area of my hometown, such as my grand-mother, my parents and some of my classmates at high school. The abundant use of these words in the first 80 pages of the book suggests the author enjoyed including them here, perhaps to highlight this (disappearing?) form of speech.
The main premise of the story is that as two friends grow up, one of them always 'steals' the girlfriends of the other. This is the story of the two men in the first part of the book. In the last part of the book, the aged mother of one of the men admits that she has life-long been married to the wrong man. The middle part of the book is tells the life story of the son. This part of the book repeats all previous story lines in novels of 't Hart, not very interesting and mainly repetitive. The structure which connects the first and the last part of the book is a ride in a touring car bus, hired to bring the whole family to the funeral of the deceased husband of the aged mother. The family boards the bus in the southwest of Holland, to take them to the funeral in the northeast, suggesting a very long ride -- a bus ride long enough to tell the story?
Other books I have read by Maarten 't Hart:
Stenen voor een ransuil
Ik had een wapenbroeder
Een vlucht regenwulpen
Verzamelde verhalen
Laatste zomernacht
3edwinbcn
De ortolaan
Finished reading: 13 March 2011
A short novella, in which the author, Maarten 't Hart is able to stay away from his usual main theme of his calvinist upbringing, instead focusing of his passion for natural history. The story is about a graduate student with whom the main character falls in love, and their subsequent friendship over the years, during which they only occasionally see each other at conferences. Not very interesting.
Other books I have read by Maarten 't Hart:
Stenen voor een ransuil
Ik had een wapenbroeder
Een vlucht regenwulpen
Verzamelde verhalen
Laatste zomernacht
Verlovingstijd
Finished reading: 13 March 2011
A short novella, in which the author, Maarten 't Hart is able to stay away from his usual main theme of his calvinist upbringing, instead focusing of his passion for natural history. The story is about a graduate student with whom the main character falls in love, and their subsequent friendship over the years, during which they only occasionally see each other at conferences. Not very interesting.
Other books I have read by Maarten 't Hart:
Stenen voor een ransuil
Ik had een wapenbroeder
Een vlucht regenwulpen
Verzamelde verhalen
Laatste zomernacht
Verlovingstijd
