Alfred Kossmann (1922–1998)

Even though it spans some 40 years, this novel seems to be built primarily around sexual deviancy, psychosis, and World War 2, in that order. A near-incestuous relationship that's taken to further heights by pretending its cousin participants are brother and sister, a guy who likes women as a woman, and the daughter's a lesbian. Anyway, Geur der droefenis is a familial novel, the genre most famously represented by Die Buddenbrooks and The Forsyte Saga. Typical elements are unhappiness in spite of (sufficient) material wealth, one or more characters being destroyed by some issue, and a lack of communication. This novel embodies all of those characteristics. Through this superficially outdated mode of storytelling Kossmann gives us a critical look at "our" era of a few odd decades ago, utilizing some enjoyable, quite well-written prose.

The protagonist, Thomas Rozendal, walks around the streets of Rotterdam "like a tourist" after the bombardment. That seems to be his attitude pretty much throughout his life, but the war is the only time the outside world is present in the novel. There's an offhand remark about Greece being a dictatorship, but nothing comes through about the protests of the 1960s, with its social issues and the Vietnam War. This seems to illustrate once more that these characters were made, or I should say destroyed by World War 2. Many of the major and supporting characters commit suicide in some way eventually, whether in the form of actual suicide or in a more figurative way, such as the destruction of the only manuscript copy of a novel on which they spent many months of labor.

In the end the book is a fairly light, fast read. I wasn't always impressed by what's described, but I was definitely impressed by how it's described. A fine specimen of nihilism — pardon me, of the smell of sadness. The lack of meaning in life comes through quite well, and there's some technical mastery on top of the pleasant prose. I might actually like it better than some of the canonicized '80s works like Mulisch' De aanslag, an enjoyable read in spite of the fact that it belabors its Greek tragic build-up as well as its deep philosophical layers, and Claus' Het verdriet van België, a fragmented mainly aestheticizing work.

I read this book primarily because it was featured on the list of 1000 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and I figured I should acquaint myself with those Dutch books on that list I didn't know. I suppose there was an intent to avoid a more obvious book like the conspicuously absent Max Havelaar, but my own vote in that case would be Maria Dermoût's The Ten Thousand Things.… (altro)

Immobilized by a crippling car accident in 1972, Dutch author Alfred Kossmann turned to even more introspective prose in De seizoenen van een invalide lezer, a collection of four essays. While prior to the accident Kossmann had been a compulsive traveller, his travels now take place in the mind, or in an arm chair. This fate is lamented by the author, and in subsequent work his deformation appears as a trauma.

The writing style of De seizoenen van een invalide lezer is similar to previous work, but, as for instance compared with De smaak van groene kaas, the physical act of travelling is substituted by reading and contemplation. What has remained is Kossmann's extensive introspection, pondering his life in past and present, making connections between his reading, his life and his work. And again, the reader can observe how impressions, this time from reading appear in future work. Thus, while translating Cavafy in the second essay Kossmann contemplates the merit of two translations of a poem by Cavafy, preferring the English translation by Rae Dalven: "perhaps arrogance and drunkenness; but no -- rather like understanding of the vanity of grandeurs" over the Dutch translation by G. H. Blanken: "hoogmoedigheid wellicht en dronkenschap; neen toch -- veeleer iets als een vol begrip van het ijdele van alle grootheid." Hoogmoed en dronkenschap would be the title of one of Kossmann's novels, published in 1981.

The four seasons in De seizoenen van een invalide lezer are Summer, Spring, Winter and Autumn, and the four essays are presented in this achronological order. In the first essay, Kossmann ponders the value of literature as a source of wisdom and experience. He balks at being immobile and bored in Wassenaar. The second essay, describes refers to the accident is a very short paragraph. the accident itself is never described: always only before and after, as if the accident is completely blacked-out. This is remarkable, because almost all of Kossmann's work brims with biographical details.

De seizoenen van een invalide lezer provide valuable biographical details that would be hard to locate, since no biography has been published about Alfred Kossmann. In several of the essays, Kossmann looks back on the publication of his first novel in 1950. This novel, De nederlaag is based on Kossmann's experience of forced labour in Heidelberg for the Nazis during the Second World War. Details described in the essays reveal how the author twisted reality into fiction.

The second essay also brings up Martelaar voor een dagdroom, twee verhalen van Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and an essay by Alfred Kossmann, published in (1962). This early essaistic work by Kossmann explains why sado-masochism often features in some of his later work, particularly in, for instance, De vrouwenhaters. Drie verhalen.

Kossmann does write about literature in these essays, notably Omar Khayyam, Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano and Cavafy's poetry, among many others, but as with Kossmann's previous travelogues, the backdrop is barely of interest. De seizoenen van een invalide lezer is a collection of very personal, autobiographical essays.… (altro)

Despite the fact that Alfred Kossmann was a major Dutch author, who lived from 1922 to 1998, no biography has been written about this author. There are short biographies, such as by Ter Laan, Van Bork and Van Bork & Verkruijsse in literary compendiums, but there is no trade edition biography. This means that a large part of Alfred Kossmann's work can only be understood in context, particularly in the total context of all his works. Many of his works point at other works, forming a network of connections of autobiographical significance to create meaning at an overall level. This hyper-textual nature of Kossmann's work makes it difficult to appreciate individual works.

For example, in the short, late novella, Slecht zicht, all characters are pre-occupied with their own identity, i.e. how they see themselves, but in the present and in the past, and how others see them. They are unable to fully realize themselves to former glory, and instead, characters are frozen in a state of impotence and depression. In 1972, the author suffered a car accident which crippled him, and reflections in Slecht zicht are likely autobiographical.

De vrouwenhaters. Drie verhalen was first published in 1968. Hence, the three stories in this collection likely refer to sentiments and facts in the earlier life of the author, however, with sufficient background they are hard to understand. The first of the three stories consists of three fragments describing aging authors who cannot write or maintain a publishing career. Each fragment represents an aspect of the anxiety of an author for writer's block or stagnation in their career.

The second short story describes an aged author who is dementing, and struggles to find words to communicate. Realizing that their father is dying, his children bring a final manuscript to a publisher. The manuscript contains a final novel that is pornographic and very different from the rest of the author's oevre. The dilemma arises whether to publish or not.

In the third story, the story lines of the previous two stories seem to come together, mixed with other story elements shuch as a prolonged absence from the Netherlands a the struggle for find a foorhold there again.

The second and third story are somewhat bewildering, with their focus on sado-masochism; however, according one of the autobiographical essays in De seizoenen van een invalide lezer, published in 1976, Kossmann wrote a study about sado-masochism is 1959, a fact not mentioned in the sparse biographical information available about Kossmann on the Internet.

Of course, De vrouwenhaters. Drie verhalen can be appreciated in its own right, as three stories about the obsessions and compulsions of authors, in a scene void of glamour.… (altro)

Alfred Kossmann died in 1998, and is already quite forgotten and obscure. The Dutch literary scene does not have publishers' series such as Penguin Classics or Modern Classics or Vintage, which might keep classics and recent literature available for a large audience. Most of Kossmann's work, during his lifetime, was published in the Reuzensalamander series (Querido's), not included in the Salamander series, which perpetuates the printing of modern literature. This means that most of his work is only available in second-hand editions.

De smaak van groene kaas is a collection of travel essays. In his later life, Kossmann became particularly fond of Greece and lived there for a few years after a car accident he suffered in 1972. In De smaak van groene kaas seven essays are collected which describe, mainly, his travels in the Mediterranean. However, the first essay is devoted to the author's hometown, Rotterdam.

Rotterdam was severely damaged during the Second World War, as it was bombed by the Nazis. It is now hard to imagine Rotterdam as a city of the same splendour as Amsterdam. In this essay about Rotterdam, Kossmann's explores how other authors from Rotterdam felt and wrote about the city.

The travel essays are very introvert prose pieces. Travel merely seems a pretext for introspection. The essays, therefore, do not really describe the landscape or foreign places, but record what the author thought or felt. His ruminations often ponder on his own life facts, or literature and his development as an author.

The seven essays in this collection seem to describe one journey, which starts in Rotterdam, then, via Amsterdam, along the Rhine, through Germany and Austria to southern France. Next stops are in Greece, Morocco, Ceuta, Spain and return to the Netherlands.

What is interesting is that even momentary impressions, such as the lights of a fleet of fishing vessels off the coast of Marseille, appear in later works, for example in the title of the short novel De wind en de lichten der schepen. Thus, De smaak van groene kaas is not just a travelogue, but more a form of autobiography, that shows how Kossmann creates connections between his past and future literary works.… (altro)