Two new publications

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Two new books by Cees Nooteboom have came out: Berlijn 1989-2009 , a new and substantially expanded edition of his book about the fall of the Berlin Wall and Het raadsel van het licht, a personal voyage of discovery through the visual arts. Nooteboom has often written about Berlin. In this new edition, which features writing including Berlijnse notities (1991) and Terugkeer naar Berlijn (1997), along with a number of pieces that have not previously been anthologised, Nooteboom presents an overview of his experiences in this city in recent decades. Berlijn 1989-2009 has been published in German by Suhrkamp, in a translation by Helga van Beuningen and Rosemarie Still.

The second publication, Het raadsel van het licht, is a compilation of Nooteboom’s observations and articles about art. The author takes the reader on a tour of his favourite paintings and museums. Het raadsel van het licht is a literary travel guide, a journey through art history and a voyage of discovery into its secrets.

De Standaard der Letteren has said about this book: ‘Het raadsel van het licht is full of interesting facts and refreshing insights, but approaches art primarily through the emotions. Nooteboom does not present himself as an omniscient expert, but as a curious art-lover, who, like so many other modern tourists, visits the big museums, monuments and works of art and attempts to understand what it is about them that attracts him and what they say to him. His book is an honest account of a lifetime’s experience of art and the pleasure it has given him.’

Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren for Cees Nooteboom

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On 18 November 2009, Cees Nooteboom received the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch Literature Prize) from Albert II, King of the Belgians. The prize is administered by the Nederlandse Taalunie and is accompanied by a sum of € 40,000. The jury, headed by Flemish emeritus professor Anne Marie Musschoot, called Nooteboom’s oeuvre profound and philosophical. His work is also praised abroad for these same qualities. Nooteboom has many readers in German-speaking countries in particular. The jury stated that the great strength of Nooteboom’s travel stories, and also his novels, is that they respect history, but are never purely realistic.

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Two new publications

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Two new books by Cees Nooteboom came out in November: Berlijn 1989-2009 , a new and substantially expanded edition of his book about the fall of the Berlin Wall and Het raadsel van het licht, a personal voyage of discovery through the visual arts. Nooteboom has often written about Berlin. In this new edition, which features writing including Berlijnse notities (1991) and Terugkeer naar Berlijn (1997), along with a number of pieces that have not previously been anthologised, Nooteboom presents an overview of his experiences in this city in recent decades. Berlijn 1989-2009 has been published in German by Suhrkamp, in a translation by Helga van Beuningen and Rosemarie Still.

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A Visit to the Pope

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On 21 November, Pope Benedict XVI is receiving a number of writers and artists from different countries, including Dutch authors Cees Nooteboom and Kader Abdolah. In August, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, announced that a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and a large number of modern artists would take place. He announced that this meeting is intended to promote dialogue with the aim of healing the rift that has developed between the Church and modern art. An overview of Nooteboom’s titles that have been translated into Italian is available here.