Louise O. Fresco

Een uitgebreide bespreking gaf NRC in het weekend van 20&21 november 2021 p. 22-23.
https://uitgeverijprometheus.nl/catalogus/de-plantenjager-uit-leningrad.html uitgever
https://uitgeverijprometheus.nl/auteurs/louise-o-fresco.html auteur
rel="nofollow" target="_top">https://www.groene.nl/artikel/versus-feitenvrije-charlatans de groene… (altro)

The seven short stories collected in Bambusa form the literary debut of the Dutch author Louise O. Fresco. These stories betray the wide and varied experience of their author. Fresco studied biology, and hold a PhD degree in tropical agriculture and food production. After a long professional career working for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), spending much time overseas in places such as Papua New Guinea and Africa, she now lectures in sustainable development in international perspective at Amsterdam University. Since 1990, she published nine non-fiction books of short stories, novels (three) and essays.

Fresco's fiction brings an interest in biology, together with themes such as living abroad, particularly in developing countries. The story "Bambusa polymorpha" is about an old Boothby-type of gardener, who dies just before his realm, the hortus botanicus is dismanteled, a fate that nearly threatened the old Hortus of the University of Amsterdam a few years before the publication of Bambusa. Two stories, "Djitar de bouwer" and "Afrikaans paradijs" are set in Africa and deal with the reality of life there, that is sometimes so hard to grasp to people in the Western world. "Djitar de bouwer" is about an architect, who designs and builds a university, only to discover that the project was just a fraud in a game of political prestige and corruption, while the other story shows how internal political conflict impacts and destroys the life of a promising student. One of the stories is set in Latin America, "Een moment in Lima" and brings sectarian and guerrilla violence to the front. Two stories are about the lives of expats, showing how the extended time spent abroad estranges people from their friends and relatives in "Het leven in eigen hand" or the complete obliteration and denial of identity in "De kleur van tijd". "De muziekmeester" is a historical short story, which shows how people in the city can find inspiration and essence from people in the countryside.

The stories in Bambusa show how the institutional distance of large organizations and governments estranges and may crush common people. Each story blazes with authentic depth and colour. They are clearly the crystallization of the experience of Louise O. Fresco in these areas.… (altro)