The Discovery of Heaven
'De ontdekking van de hemel' is Harry Mulisch’s magnum opus. All the paths he has taken in his previous work come together in this 900-page novel. The book has 65 chapters, one for each of Mulisch’s years at the time of the novel’s publication. Mulisch, with his hang for numerological symbolism, has given a first hint of the book’s autobiographical nature. In the two main characters, Max Delius and Onno Quist, the reader can recognise much of Mulisch and his deceased friend, the chess player, Jan Hein Donner.
Original title
De ontdekking van de hemel
Author
Harry Mulisch
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'De ontdekking van de hemel' is a novel of unusual magnitude and greatness. Dust off the laurel wreath; Mulisch has earned it. Hats off.
Trouw
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A rare stroke of luck for contemporary literature, it combines the virtues of intelligence and entertainment value – a masterpiece.
Stern
No novelist in recent times has depicted the crisis in modern industrial society so accurately, and certainly not in such an extremely entertaining and witty way.
Der Tagespiegel
Harry Mulisch
Harry Mulisch (1927-2010) was born on July 29, 1927 in Haarlem to a Jewish mother and a half-German, half-Austrian father. After his parents divorced in 1937, he was raised by his father’s German housekeeper. The father was joint director of a banking firm which was a repository for stolen Jewish funds.