Nooit meer slapen

by Willem Frederik Hermans

Paperback, 1981

Library's rating

Publication

Amsterdam De Bezige Bij 1981

ISBN

9023401735 / 9789023401735

Language

Description

The young Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf is determined to win fame for making a great discovery. To this end he joins a small geological expedition, which travels to the far North of Norway, where he hopes to prove a series of craters were caused by meteorites, but ultimately realizes he's more likely to drown in a fjord or be eaten by parasites. Unable to procure crucial aerial photographs, and beset by mosquitoes and insomnia in his freezing leaky tent, Alfred becomes increasingly desperate and paranoid. Haunted by the ghost of his scientist father, unable to escape the looming influence of his mother, and anxious to complete the thesis that will make his name, he moves toward the final act of vanity which will trigger a catastrophe. A deadpan comedy often subtly calling up the works of Heller or Vonnegut at their best, Beyond Sleep is a unique and illuminating examination of how hard it is to be a true pioneer in the modern world. Beyond Sleep is a masterpiece.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member thorold
Written 45 years ago, but still very powerful stuff. And it reminds me why I always hated geography field trips...
LibraryThing member HendrikSteyaert
Dark, pessimistic, fatalistic,slow are a few words that describe this book. Although i kept on reading to the end with some interest, it is not my cup of tea. The author also tries to bring in too much viewpoints/subjects that have no relation to the main theme.
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
Dutch geology grad student Alfred travels to far north Norway seeking to prove a discredited theory that certain circular craters were caused by meteors rather than glacial movements. Alfred hopes to win fame, professional status, and a new type of rock named after him.

Instead, his entire journey
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is a comedy of errors. He arrives in Norway to discover that the expert his professor referred him to is a doddering, blind idiot, who moreover detests Alfred's professor. He is unable to obtain the aerial photos he needs to locate the craters. And he arrives at base camp totally unprepared for the mosquitos, the rigors of carrying pounds of gear on rigorous mountain hikes, and ill-equipped for the weather. However, he learns some life lessons along the way.

This was a mostly amusing journey to a rarely visited area of the world with a humorously delusional guide.
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LibraryThing member edwinbcn
W.F. Hermans is named one of the big three top authors who dominated the Dutch literary scene during the second half of the Twentieth Century. «Nooit meer slapen» is one of his early novels, an all-time bestseller.

The novel is based on autobiographical experience as a geology student. The
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bureaucracy and envy as observed in the academic circle thwarting the graduate student's effort to collect material described in the novel are a typical theme of this author. The survival elements of the geological excursion in rugged terrain in Scandinavia was later parodied in the work of Jeff Last's «Indian Summer» and others.
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Original publication date

1966-02-??
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