Willem Frederik Hermans:
(Amsterdam, 1 September 1921 – Utrecht, 27 April 1995).
Dutch writer mainly of novels, novellas and contemplative prose. Typical of Hermans’ work are the close literary construction and the coherence between narrative style, plot and theme, which is essentially knowledge-theoretical. The best known of his 13 novels are The Dark Room of Damokles and Never Sleep Again. More than the novels, the stories in his six novella collections range from fantastic or surrealist to almost strictly autobiographical narratives; both prose forms sometimes include satirical elements. He was also a fierce and humorous polemicist, with Mandarijnen op zwavelzuur being his most telling title. Hermans, a doctor of mathematics and physics (physical geography) in addition to being a writer, refused the 1971 P.C. Hooft Prize. He was awarded the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren in 1977. With Gerard Reve and Harry Mulisch, Hermans is counted among the Big Three, the three most important postwar Dutch authors.
Man will have to get used to living in a world without freedom, goodness and truth. It will soon be taught in primary school! This war is just a taste of the world to come!
Dictatorial governments are not interested in the truth, their main concern is to fight opinions considered dangerous to the state. Democratic governments are not free from fear of the truth. In any community, even a democratic one, suspicions can arise that no one wants to become certainties.
Today most people are ignorant of what is really happening because the truth is not in the papers and before that because there were no papers.
Being friends with many great artists is best for many small artists.
