15 Fanny (1980)
Erica Jong (New York 26/3/1942)
Inleiding: Bas 29/4/1982
For the Curse of the Male Sex is its constant Need of Homage – Homage to its Intellect and Wit, Homage to its Gallantry and petty Prowess betwixt the Bed-Clothes; whilst the Female Sex, said to be so vain, is vain only of mere superficial Beauty.
16 Veertig (1982)
Kees van Kooten (Den Haag 10/8/1941)
Inleiding: Paul 29/4/1982
Hier begint het. Ik kan kiezen tussen: ‘Zijn vrouw had hem’ en ‘Mijn vrouw heeft mij’. Onderweg heb ik besloten dat het ‘Mijn vrouw heeft mij’ moet zijn.
17 Hadrianus’ Gedenkschriften (Mémoires d’Hadrien) (1951)
Marguerite Yourcenar (Brussel 8/6/1903 – Mount-Desert Island 17/12/1987)
Inleiding: Herman 25/6/1982
Rien n’est plus lent que la véritable naissance d’un homme
18 Victory (1915)
Joseph Conrad (Berdichev, Rusland [nu: Oekraine] 3/12/1857 – Bishopsbourne, England 3/8/1924)
Inleiding: Gijsbert 30/9/1982
There is, as every schoolboy knows in this scientific age, a very close chemical relation between coal and diamonds. It is the reason, I believe, why some people allude to coal as “black diamonds.” Both these commodities represent wealth, but coal is a much less portable form of property.
19 Het Portret van Dorian Gray (1890)
Oscar Wilde (Dublin 16/10/1854 – Parijs 30/11/1900)
Inleiding: Paul 4/11/1982
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
20 Gedichten (Les Fleurs du Mal) (1857)
Charles Baudelaire (Parijs 9/4/1821 – 31/8/1867)
Inleiding: Herman 23/12/1982
La sottise, l’erreur, le péché, la lésine,
Occupent nos esprits et travaillent nos corps,
Et nous alimentons nos aimables remords,
Comme les mendiants nourrissent leur vermine.
21 The Road to Oxiana (1937)
Robert Byron (Wembley 26/2/1905 – Cape Wrath 24/2/1941)
Inleiding: Kees 23/12/1982
Here [the tourist] is still an aberration. If you can come from London to Syria on business, you must be rich. If you can come so far without business, you must be very rich. No one cares if you like the place, or hate it, or why. You are simply a tourist, as a skunk is a skunk, a parasitic variation of the human species, which exists to be tapped like a milch cow or a gum tree.
22 Among the Believers (1981)
Vidiadhar Naipaul (Chaguanas, Trinidad 17/8/1932 – )
Inleiding: Kees 23/12/1982
Islam is the most uncompromising kind of imperialism because it seeks as an article of the faith to erase the past.
23 In Patagonia (1977)
Bruce Chatwin (Sheffield 13/5/1940 – Nice 18/1/1989)
Inleiding: Gijsbert 23/12/1982
Patagonia! She is a hard mistress. She casts her spell. An enchantress! She folds her arms and never lets go.
24 Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979)
Douglas Hofstadter (New York 15/2/1945 – )
Inleiding: Paul 23/12/1982
Het idee voor dit boek speelde al zo’n twintig jaar door mijn hoofd – vanaf het moment dat ik op mijn dertiende nadacht over hoe ik in het Engels en het Frans dacht