Since the 1970s, Rudy Kousbroek (1929-2010) has been writing essays for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad on subjects ranging from politics to bicycles, cars and the Dutch national character. These essays have been collected in various volumes under the collective name of ‘Anathemas’. Kousbroek’s other writings include De aaibaarheidsfactor (The Strokability Factor; 1969), a phenomenology of cats.
‘One serious drawback is the impossibility of becoming somebody else.’ That quotation is the most succinct summary of the theme Rudy Kousbroek broaches in Het meer der herinnering. It is the basic melody, the basso continuo that links his contributions, namely melancholy wrapped in humour and analytical thought. The twenty-four essays in this book deal mainly with variations on the theme that there are limitations to human existence which can only be crossed in the imagination.
