Willem van ToornReseñas

Tegen de tijd is a collection of poetry by the Dutch writer and poet Willem van Toorn. In his poetry, Van Toorn strikes a fine balance between landscape (and nature), people and history.

Omtrent Kapelaan, en andere verhalen is a collection of six short stories by Willem van Toorn. The first story, also the longest, Omtrent Kapelaan is immediately recognizable and captivating, about a teacher who is inspiring while being a rather eccentric person. Other than other teachers, fully original, great with students and a disaster for the school administration, this is the type of story and the type of character that many people enjoy reading (about). However, like some of the longer stories in Pestvogels, Van Toorn cannot maintain the arc of the story, and essentially the story is too long. The story is unsuccessful because other characters and blended in and the story meanders through other ideas, blurring both meaning and intent of the story.

At least until about 20 years ago, short story collections had an overarching theme that connected each of the stories in the collection. This is clear for some of the stories in this collection. The idea to what extent eccentricity is accepted in society, and how much freedom we are allowed can be discerned in several of the stories in this collection, worked out in entirely different stories.½

Four early stories of the Dutch novelist Willem van Toorn. Particularly the title story, which is also the longest of these four stories, about the war, is very well-written.

Ik las dit boek voor de tweede of misschien wel derde keer en het blijft geweldig. Het is aangrijpend en ontroerend en invoelbaar. Een mooie afwisseling van jeugdherinneringen en de actualiteit van de dijkverzwaring. Bijzonder om de ervaringen van WO 2 te lezen in Covidtijd. De vergelijking gaat grotendeels mank, we hebben nu weinig te klagen.

Passando attraverso una multiforme serie di schermi, lo sguardo analitico del pittore-scrittore compone e descrive quadri e scene nei quali a volte penetra come osservatore partecipe, a volte riflette e proietta la realtà con ineccepibile trascendenza. Il piano narrativo, che predomina la raccolta - essendo molto più vivo il desiderio di raccontare che quello di armonizzare un verso, spinge continuamente il lettore dentro e fuori della rappresentazione paesaggistica, indietro e avanti nella storia personale e narrativa, sfiorando spesso il gioco prospettico, lo svelarsi del segreto scenico e compositivo (“…anche se è la poesia / a dire di un uomo che pende a cento metri,/ uno non può aspettarsi un miracolo” – da “Vertigini”). I passaggi caleidoscopici tra realtà e finzione, tra presente e memoria, tra spazi fisici e profondità emotive si ritrovano intatti e potenti in una raccolta recente dell’autore: “Il lago artificiale”. Stasera spegnete il router e collegatevi a Willem van Toorn.

Hoofdregel: Jouw vrijheid houdt op waar die van een ander begint.Denk daar maar eens over na, in deze Theo Thijssen-achtige verhalenbundel, geschikt voor oud en jong, verouderd en verjongd.

ook weer zo'n roman waarvan je zegt: waarom ben ik de enige die Willem van Toorn leest ? Nooit spreek je iemand die hem ook zo goed vindt * .Enfin, naarmate van Toorn ouder wordt, schrijft hij beter, kaal, maar steeds emotioneler.

Met dit boek drong van Toorn bij mij binnen.Afgezien van de rara naam van de hoofdpersoon, zat alles goed: Nederland, stad-platteland, melancholie om het verleden in al zijn vormen:omgeving, jeugd, huwelijk, kale stijl, onopgesmukt, sterk!

Van Toorn schrijft prachtig, precies goed, doet ook wat aan FC Terborg denken.½