All Souls' Day (Dutch: Allerzielen) is a 1998 novel by the Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom. It tells the story of a Dutch documentary filmmaker who lives in Berlin, and reflects, with his friends, on matters such as art, history, and national characters.
"It's clear that Nooteboom knows more than enough about art, philosophy, semantics and the whole onanistic malarkey, but the effect of his prose is so blindingly didactic that you quickly feel you would pay good money to have someone smile or burp or drop something or talk about anything other than the reunification of Germany or the iconography of late German romanticism. I also wondered whether Susan Massoty's translation - unbearably arch, enervatingly fussy - might be letting him down." Myerson continued: "we are never allowed to empathise with, let alone believe in, the tragedy that has befallen Arthur. The dead wife and child are no more than juicy, gratuitous sidebars. No, 'juicy' is too kind; they're just bland tidbits, laid whingingly there on the page, and you quickly begin to resent them."[1]
Publishers Weekly said: "Nooteboom's attempt at an intellectual novel is worthy of respect, but Arthur and his friends are frustratingly static in their habits and thoughts, their perorations inflated with hot air. More enervating than invigorating, the book fails to communicate the vitality of a life of thought."[2]
souls, novel, souls, dutch, allerzielen, 1998, novel, dutch, writer, cees, nooteboom, tells, story, dutch, documentary, filmmaker, lives, berlin, reflects, with, friends, matters, such, history, national, characters, souls, dayfirst, edition, dutch, authorcees. All Souls Day Dutch Allerzielen is a 1998 novel by the Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom It tells the story of a Dutch documentary filmmaker who lives in Berlin and reflects with his friends on matters such as art history and national characters All Souls DayFirst edition Dutch AuthorCees NooteboomOriginal titleAllerzielenTranslatorSusan MassottyCountryNetherlandsLanguageDutchPublisherUitgeverij AtlasPublication date1998Published in English2001Pages398ISBN9045223414Reception EditJulie Myerson of The Guardian wrote It s clear that Nooteboom knows more than enough about art philosophy semantics and the whole onanistic malarkey but the effect of his prose is so blindingly didactic that you quickly feel you would pay good money to have someone smile or burp or drop something or talk about anything other than the reunification of Germany or the iconography of late German romanticism I also wondered whether Susan Massoty s translation unbearably arch enervatingly fussy might be letting him down Myerson continued we are never allowed to empathise with let alone believe in the tragedy that has befallen Arthur The dead wife and child are no more than juicy gratuitous sidebars No juicy is too kind they re just bland tidbits laid whingingly there on the page and you quickly begin to resent them 1 Publishers Weekly said Nooteboom s attempt at an intellectual novel is worthy of respect but Arthur and his friends are frustratingly static in their habits and thoughts their perorations inflated with hot air More enervating than invigorating the book fails to communicate the vitality of a life of thought 2 See also Edit1998 in literature Dutch literatureReferences Edit Myerson Julie 2002 01 05 More matter less art The Guardian Retrieved 2012 03 12 Staff writer 2001 10 08 Fiction Review All Souls Day by Cees Nooteboom Publishers Weekly Retrieved 2012 03 12 This article about a 1990s novel is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title All Souls 27 Day novel amp oldid 1064411632, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
