Dutch writer Joost Zwagerman gathered what he considered to be the most interesting and important short writing of the Dutch language and organised their translation to English resulting in the 2016 Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories. The 36-story anthology was a trimmed-down version of Zwagerman’s original publication, Dutch and Flemish literature from 1880 in 250 stories, which was published in 2005. The English-language version spans nearly a century or writing – the earliest work is from 1915 and the latest from 2014 – and the vast majority of the stories appear in English for the first time. Much of the collection deals with the Netherlands during and after the Second World War or through its involvement in overseas conflicts during the mid-20th century. Mulisch’s contribution, What Happened to Sergeant Massuro?, follows a service member on patrol in the jungle of New Guinea who develops a strange disease. Another story, War is Fun by Bob den Uyl, follows a ten-year-old boy during the German invasion in May 1940. Other stories are simply weird. Feathered Friends by Wolkers depicts a man who murders his wife and feeds her corpse to seagulls. The Motionless Man by Oek de Jong describes a man who wants to live without moving. And Manon Uphoff’s Poop is about, well, excrement.
Read more at DutchNews.nl: Review by Molly Quell
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