 |
| Everything About Tristan - Alles over Tristan |
| | Alles over Tristan (Everything About Tristan)
Precisely twenty-eight and a half years after the death of the famous poet Viktor Tristan, Professor Jakob Keller is honored with a commission to write his biography. Along with a bust and an edition of Tristan's collected works, the biography is to be presented on the thirtieth anniversary of the poet's death.Keller leaves for the port city of Mercedal, where the poet was born and spent the first twenty-three years of his life. Viktor Tristan, the poète maudite who died under mysterious circumstances on the island of Lago before even reaching the age of thirty, continues to elude Keller in the windings of the biographical labyrinth. Tristan's legacy: two books that left poetry touched and bereaved, and changed its countenance forever. Keller discovers that Tristan's live was a careful exercise in obscurantism. But Tristan's old friends, living out their twilight days on the patio of Café Colonial, are not prepared to help him unravel those mysteries. It is up to Keller himself to find out why the brilliant young poet made his final departure just as his star was beginning to rise. The biographer comes closer and closer to his hero and discovers what remains, after the lies and intentional obscurity have been shoved aside.
Alles over Tristan is a book full of lies, chicanery and betrayal, but especially a book about what happens when our urge towards hero-worship is frustrated by a hero who succeeds in escaping all.
|
|
|
| Quotes |
| | | ‘The underestimated book of Tommy Wieringa…The pleasure to read consists especially in the constant tension, caused by ongoing and unforeseen twists.’ – NRC Handelsblad ‘Fascinating fiction… With a lot of sense for atmosphere Tommy Wieringa has written a thriller-like novel about the Via Dolorosa a biographer can go through.’ – Haagsche Courant ‘The tension is always there, nowhere the story gets weak… Who closes this book after reading, gyrates and sways.’ – Financieel dagblad ‘Everything about Tristan is built up well and has a startling dénouement, as it fits a good detective’ – De groene amsterdammer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
