Both the protagonist and the author he imitates prefer fiction to fact. ‘What are facts?’ Modderman quotes LeFebvre. ‘They tell you no more about a person than washed up driftwood tells you about the ship it came from.’ The origin of the quotes LeFebvre gives are often unclear – are they from literary novels, pop songs, books of quotations, real-life dialogues? No wonder the mystery remains: did LeFebvre even exist and can we trust the account we are reading?

Astonishingly erudite, debut novelist Joost de Vries pokes fun at the 1960s generation of so-called engaged artists. It takes nerve to give a young hero’s associative, semi-negligent quest precedence over plot, philosophy and psychology. Clausewitz is a splendid hall of mirrors where we wander lost and enthralled.