De Stolp (The Bell): the new novel by Jeroen Theunissen

(Jeroen Theunissen, seen by Koen Broos.)

De Stolp (The Bell): a novel about truth and fabrication, love and reality TV.

Most of us will remember the year 2003 because of the heat wave that struck Europe from July to September. It was also the year of ‘the bell’. This educational reality programme drew a record number of viewers in September and October. The fact that fifteen youngsters lived and played in a bell for six weeks created quite the controversy. What will youngsters do when they are locked up in a micro-world? How will they interact? What will be the first signs of tension between them? What will they share and what makes them different from one another? And who will win the first prize, an exotic trip? Jeroen Theunissen shows us what is going on in the heads of the contestants and the viewers. The book zaps from one person to another, creating a kaleidoscopic image of the game: fun at first, but gradually becoming more gruesome.

About Jeroen Theunissen’s work:

‘Sparkling prose that makes you wonder whether you should laugh or continue reading with a solemn look on your face.’
De Groene Amsterdammer

‘His books are written with great lucidity and charming intuition. They are all the more remarkable since Theunissen shows clear involvement in a very recognizable modern world.’
De Standaard

‘In Een Vorm van Vermoeidheid (Some Kind of Tiredness), Theunissen shows how literary seriousness can have it over facility.’
NRC Handelsblad

Meulenhoff | Manteau on stage in Brussels

The Flemish-Dutch centre deBuren invited Meulenhoff | Manteau for an evening on books, publishing and literary imponderabilia. Publisher Harold Polis and authors Pascal Verbeken (Poor Wallonia) and Jeroen Theunissen (A kind of tiredness) will let you in on what actually happens behind the scenes. Next tuesday, December 2, you have the chance to learn more about Meulenhoff | Manteau and contemporary publishing.

In collaboration with Het beschrijf

TU 02.12.08 | 20.00 > 21.30
Passa Porta, A. Dansaertstraat 46, 1000 Brussels
€5 - €4 | reservation
recommended:
T +32(0)2 226 04 54
info@passaporta.be

New novel by Jeroen Theunissen: A kind of tiredness

Meulenhoff | Manteau recently published Jeroen Theunissen's second novel A kind of tiredness. It's a story that makes the reader gasp for air. Theunissen succeeded in putting into words the fundamental doubt of modern man. How we always reach for our shadow and will always want what we don’t have.

Horacio Gnade is a world citizen because the world is a village. He’s in his thirties and lives and works in a small German university town. He cannot imagine not being a conformist. That’s why he’s married and why he has a daughter. He doesn’t have a problem with cheating on his wife since cheating isn’t cheating as long as no one knows anything about it. He doesn’t want to be a burden to others and also wants others to leave him alone as much as possible. His biggest concern is to avoid romantic thoughts, thoughts that lead nowhere. Gnade neither has hope nor faith. And then it goes wrong…
One day, he gets sick. From that moment on, he no longer has control over events. He starts stalking a young woman. In a sudden burst of senseless violence, he almost strangles a boy and he abandons his family. He runs away to Paris and later to Patagonia, because he is counting on finding peace there while waiting for the money to be gone. Finally, out of boredom, despair, or simply because he gets carried away by a sexy activist, he travels to an Indian community.

Jeroen Theunissen (1977) made a remarkable debut with De onzichtbare (The invisible) (2004). He published the collection of poems Thuisverlangen (Longing for home) (2005) and the unanimously very well received collected stories Het einde (The end) (2006).

English sample translation available.