Jan van Mersbergen

Jan van Mersbergen (b. 1971) made his debut in 2001 with the novel De grasbijter (‘The Grass-Eater’). His central theme can be summed up as ‘men on the run’. Van Mersbergen’s main characters are gruff and graceless men of few words who like their drink and yet harbour a sensitive soul. Naar de overkant van de nacht (To the Other Side of the Night, 2010) – about a man who reassesses his life one drunken night during Carnival – won him the BNG Literatuurprijs and has since been translated into Spanish, Catalan and Turkish. His breakthrough novel Morgen zijn we in Pamplona (Tomorrow Pamplona, 2007), set in the world of boxing, has been translated into English, French, German and Turkish. The film rights to Naar de overkant van de nacht and Morgen zijn we in Pamplona have been sold to a Londonbased production company.

To the Other Side of the Night

(Cossee, 2011, 176 pages)

Van Mersbergen’s work invariably focuses on characters who have a highly developed emotional life yet are barely able to articulate their feelings in concrete terms, let alone to change anything about their situation. They are therefore typical loners, who manage to inspire robust compassion in the reader, in novel after novel. With To the Other Side of the Night, Van Mersbergen demonstrates he has attained perfect command of his art.

The Last Escape

(Cossee, 2014, 218 pages)

Ivan, an exile from the former Yugoslavia, performs an escapology act in bars and at festivals in the Netherlands. At the age of 41, this modern-day Houdini discovers that he has a ten-year-old son and feels a powerful urge to build a relationship with the boy. It is a decision that will have far-reaching consequences for his freewheeling lifestyle.

Author

Jan van Mersbergen

To the Other Side of the Night

The Last Escape

Translations

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