A memoir of reflections and pictures by one of the great European novelists
I had been looking for someone to write to for a long time, but how does a man write letters to a god?
From his Mediterranean garden on the island of Menorca, Cees Nooteboom writes to the trident-wielding deity, Poseidon, initiating a dialogue not only with the past, as Alberto Manguel observes in his Preface, but with an entire world that seemed lost for ever.
Offering a seductive interweaving of keen observation and the fruits of a vast knowledge, Nooteboom explores questions of human existence through the minutiae of the living world around him, and marvels at the secrets of the deep. He recalls figures in history, places he has travelled to, objets trouvés, works of art and literature, and takes a fresh look at the ancient myths.
At once playful and poignant, beautiful and bizarre, Nooteboom's Letters to Poseidon are couched in the glittering prose of one of Europe's outstanding stylists.
A sparkling little book, filled with wonder Justin Marozzi Spectator
Cees Nooteboom was born in The Hague in 1933, and now lives in Amsterdam and on the island of Menorca. He is a poet and novelist who has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as the Pegasus Prize and the Aristeion Prize for his novels, which include
Rituals (1983),
The Following Story (1994), and
All Souls' Day (2001). His books of travel writing,
Roads to Santiago (1997) and
Roads to Berlin (2012) have become backlist classics.
LAURA WATKINSON lived in England, Scotland, Italy and Germany, before settling in the Netherlands in 2003. Her previous translations include Cees Nooteboom's
Roads to Berlin,
Letters to Poseidon and
Venice, Peter Terrin's
Post Mortem, Otto de Kat's
The Longest Night and
Freetown, and Tonke Dragt's
The Letter for the King.
Über den Autor
Cees Nooteboom was born in The Hague in 1933, and now lives in Amsterdam and on the island of Minorca. He is a poet, a novelist and a travel writer whose books include Rituals (1983), The Following Story (1994), Roads to Santiago (1997) and All Souls' Day (2001).
Klappentext
A memoir of reflections and pictures by one of the great European novelists "I had been looking for someone to write to for a long time, but how does a man write letters to a god?" From his Mediterranean garden on the island of Menorca, Cees Nooteboom writes to the trident-wielding deity, Poseidon, "initiating a dialogue not only with the past," as Alberto Manguel observes in his Preface, "but with an entire world that seemed lost for ever." Offering a seductive interweaving of keen observation and the fruits of a vast knowledge, Nooteboom explores questions of human existence through the minutiae of the living world around him, and marvels at the secrets of the deep. He recalls figures in history, places he has travelled to, objets trouvés, works of art and literature, and takes a fresh look at the ancient myths. At once playful and poignant, beautiful and bizarre, Nooteboom's Letters to Poseidon are couched in the glittering prose of one of Europe's outstanding stylists.
