How to use this Page

The Darkroom of Damocles, by Willem Frederik Hermans, has been named one of the ten finalists for the Best Translated Book of the Year by Three Percent. This classic novel is widely considered one of the great masterpieces of post-war literature, and Hermans (1921-1995) is also the author of Beyond Sleep, also published for the first time in the U.S. by Overlook. Before devoting his entire life to writing, Hermans had been teaching Physical Geography at the University of Groningen for many years. He had already started writing and publishing in magazines at a young age. His polemic and provocative style led to a court case as early as 1952. In his novels and stories, Hermans places his characters in a world of certainty for themselves but equivocal for the reader. It is in this field of tension that the intrigue in De tranen der acacia’s (Acacia’s Tears, 1949) and in De donkere kamer van Damocles (The Darkroom of Damocles, 1958) develops. Although stories such as Moedwil en misverstand (Malice and Misunderstanding) and Paranoia have a surrealistic tendency, Hermans’ novels The Darkroom Of Damocles, Nooit meer slapen (Beyond Sleep), Uit talloos veel miljoenen (From Countless Millions) are more realistic or satirical and everything in his rich oeuvre is subordinate to the author’s pessimistic philosophy."

Announced today on the Three Percent website, the 2008 Best Translated Book of the Year Fiction Longlist includes Overlook's The Darkroom of Damocles by W. F. Hermans. The list features authors from all over the world, including Nobel Prize winners and first-time novelists, and published by presses of all sizes, this longlist will be narrowed down to ten finalists on January 27th, with a winner being announced at a reception on February 19th at the Melville House offices in Brooklyn, NY. This award, started last year in reaction to the lack of international titles on “best of the year” lists, was created to bring attention to the great works of international literature being published in the United States. Criteria used in selecting these titles include the quality of the work itself, along with the quality of the translation. It is the only award in America honoring international literature that is given to the book itself.

Considered one of the most important Western European authors to emerge from the postwar period, Willem Frederik Hermans was born in Amsterdam in 1921. Hermans’s older sister and cousin committed suicide following the German invasion of Amsterdam in 1940. World War II left a strong impression on Hermans, serving as the backdrop for many of his novels. Appointed as a lecturer on physical geography at the Groningen University, Hermans was forced to resign in 1958 after a parliamentary committee discovered he was using university stationary for his own writing. Hermans later published Among Professors, a fictionalized and biting account of his time at the university, which he’d written entirely on the backs of university letters. After visiting South Africa in 1983, the Mayor and City Council of Amsterdam declared Hermans persona non grata for disregarding the cultural boycott on the country because of its Apartheid policy. Hermans was thus exiled from his home city until he returned in 1993 for a book presentation, insisting that the City Council revoke the imposition. Hermans’s unique style of existential satire has been compared to the likes of Heller, Vonnegut, and Kafka. Despite his critical success in Europe, his writing is only now becoming available in the States. His most acclaimed novels, Beyond Sleep and The Darkroom of Damocles are now finally available in English from Overlook.

School Library Journal pointed out that the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) actually began life kind of like Wikipedia. To help catalog words, they solicited hundreds of volunteers from England and America. They were to find words of any sort and supply a quotation using that word, preferably from the oldest work they had at hand. These five million slips of paper had to be organized, “a process that lasted from 1857 until 1928. Today, Wikipedia's volunteers have published about five million articles worldwide in just six years.”

I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.