Beschreibung

Autorentext

A. L. Snijders was born in 1937 in Amsterdam. In 1971, he moved to Achterhoek, a quiet, wooded region in the east of the Netherlands where many of his animal stories are set. In 2006, his first collection of zkv's ("zeer korte verhalen" or "very short stories"-a term he invented) was published, bringing the writer quickly to public attention. Several collections followed, including the volume from which the present stories are taken, De Mol en andere dierenzkv's (The Mole and Other Very Short Animal Stories, AFdH, 2009). In November 2010, Snijders was awarded the Constantijn Huygens Prize, one of the three most important literary prizes in Holland, in recognition of his work as a whole and especially his zkv's. Snijders has by now written approximately 1,500 zkv's.

Beautifully translated by Lydia David, the miniature stories of A.L. Snijders might concern a lost shoe, a visit with a bat, fears of travel, a dream of a man with a glass eye: uniting them is their brevity and their vivacity. As Lydia Davis notes: "I appreciated the freshness of each piece, the good humor, the references to Dutch culture and history, Snijders's wit, thoughtfulness, and often surprising conclusions."

Part commonplace book, part a set of highly wrought novels-in-pill form, the stories gathered here might be termed autobiographical mini-fables. Reading them in one go is a bit like staring into a pocket mirror around new corners; the angles and insights are quietly astonishing. In one, our narrator climbs up into a hayloft to find a box his son wants: "This morning at 11:30, in the full sun, I go and look in the last uninspected place...where I haven't been for years. I climb over boxes and shelving, and open the door. A frightened owl flies straight at me, dead quiet, as quiet as a shadow can fly, I look into his eyes-he's a large owl, it's not strange that I'm frightened too, we frighten each other. I myself thought that owls never move in the daytime. What the owl thinks about me, I don't know."

Produktinformationen