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finished reading Nooit meer slapen by Willem Frederik Hermans

Nooit meer slapen (Paperback, Dutch language, 1989, De Bezige Bij) 4 stars

Am I finally of that age where I can genuinely appreciate a work of "real literature" or is this book just really that good, like everyone who recommended it to me said it was? Considering its age, this book feels like a surprisingly modern with themes that, if anything, have only become more relevant. Language and culture shock, anxiety and parental pressures, dealing with the "what-ifs" of life. These are nice, easily identifiable themes. Which doesn't mean that Hermans' approach isn't nuanced, it just means that you feel very smart when you realize "Ah! Here he's talking about the struggle between Man and Nature!" Which is another strong theme. One of the book's best qualities are how Hermans' writing makes you feel the desolation and eerie, dangerous beauty of the Lapland landscape.

The only thing that makes it feel very of its time are the really... iffy comments towards black people. It's strange, since Hermans does brilliantly dissect the myth of the great European explorer, who conveniently forgets to mention all the locals who led the way and carried the provisions. And the way he contrasts how the indigenous Sami people thrive in this hostile landscape with the efforts of the educated scientist main characters to survive in the high north also doesn't seem very consistent with anti-blackness. You'd think that someone with enough sense to recognize colonialist attitudes and reject them, would not also perpetuate the condescending ideas about blackness in those passages.

Our first person narrator and protagonist is a bit of a dickhead though, so maybe that's why.