Column | Slight fame – NRC

For me, the Book Week started this year with the novel The grain in the for from Marie Koenen. I hear the reader sigh: « Marie who? » And I repeat: Marie Koenen.

Her novel dates from 1941 and Marie herself lived from 1879 to 1959. For me, she is the personification of the transience of literary fame – a theme that is rarely cut into book weeks.

She has written a lot – poems, novels, novels – and she was read well, but I know for sure that her name will not be mentioned anywhere in this new book week, except in this column. I came The grain in the for Recently against an Amsterdam street book box, it was a worn Prisma Pocket, a third edition, presumably from the fifties.

I immediately had to think back to my first Dutch teacher at the Catholic HBS, in the late 1950s, a nasty authoritarian man who we called 'Pietje' outside of his hearing; I will leave his last name unnamed out of piety with any grandchildren. Pietje had to teach us love for national literature, reason why he always expanded for hours about his favorite author: Marie Koenen. He eagerly read from her books and, after every in his eyes, let an intimidating look wander over the class. Those who did not pay attention could count on a firm sprout.

Passages must have been like, and I quote from The grain in the for: « The next morning Leonardus came into the stable, when Nelis was still milking the cow and while he went with the bucket-full to the front house, Leonardus de Witte brought back to the place. Don't explore Rosalien to ask him: « Sun, Nelis? » … « Yes, plenty », would he have answered today, « and it is already for the Allerzielenmissen … »  »

And: « Nowadays, after dinner, Lucia immediately lights up the candles with the Mother of God, – each turns his chair that way – plonia, nelis and mank mielke come from the back kitchen, – and knotted on the floor stones, they start the rosary, pre -prayed by Maria. »

It must have been quite a challenge for Pietje with such texts to keep his Roman teenagers sweet for an hour. Not to mention the impossibility of gaining us forever for national literature. Or did he make us ripe for the Wil and thank us in this way for the lusty books of Jan Wolkers who presented himself a few years later?

No more bad word about Marie Koenen. She, a good Catholic woman from the south of the country, could not help that her totally illegible and no longer reprinted books, were considered important literature for a while by Kwezels in the Catholic Trreets of the Literary World and Education.

But it also shows how time -bound judgments can be about literature. It doesn't hurt that to realize in times when heavy judgments about books and oeuvres are made through literary prizes and also quite interesting initiatives by NRC and The standard as the list of « the 50 best Dutch -language books of the 21st century ». A number of good books were missing on that list and I now hope that the writers do not care too much about it.

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