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F. Springer (1932–2011)

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29+ Werke 1,146 Mitglieder 30 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 5 Lesern

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Beinhaltet die Namen: F. Springer, Carel Jan Schneider

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Bel-Ami (1885) — Nachwort, einige Ausgaben3,035 Exemplare
De Nederlandse en Vlaamse literatuur vanaf 1880 in 250 verhalen (2005) — Mitwirkender — 74 Exemplare
TXT : alles is mogelijk in zestien verhalen (2010) — Mitwirkender — 20 Exemplare
Breekbare dagen — Mitwirkender — 5 Exemplare
Wisselend decor (1998) — Mitwirkender — 3 Exemplare

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This novella reads almost like an Anthony Powell pastiche: the very conventional narrator Nikko, a lawyer, tells us about his disreputable friend, the poet Felix Sterremeer (who later reinvents himself as "Starlake"), whom he bumps into from time to time over the course of many years, in the Netherlands and then in New York, observing the unfolding tragedy of Felix's unhappy marriage to a rich young American woman who had thought she was getting the new Hölderlin but ended up with the new Heinrich Stieglitz. Which of course leads her to take on the role of Charlotte S.

A nicely paced and elegantly furnished story, with plenty of fun stuff to keep us amused — there's even a walk-on for Alma Mahler-Werfel — but perhaps a trifle old-fashioned for 1998.
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thorold | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Sep 4, 2023 |
I spent almost three days to finish reading this volume, which collects all prose works, consisting of four novels, three short story collections and thee novellas altogether just over 1100 pages. I had already read one novel, «Kandy» and one short story collection, «Tabee, New York» which I did not reread, before coming to China. Last week, I already read a volume of all collected short stories of Springer including two collections of short stories and one novella which are reprinted in this volume. Not included in this tome, written after 2001, but included in the previously mentioned short story collection «De verhalen» is the novella «Bangkok, een elegie» which I read a few years ago. It turns out that this novella is the only work of Springer I like, perhaps because it describes expat life as it applies to myself. Most other works describe colonial affairs and diplomacy from the perspective of obnoxious expat business men and diplomats as I often meet in China. They are the scum on the waves and I absolutely detest them and what they stand for. These unabashed imperialistic and colonial attitudes are the very fabric and pattern of Springer's work. I hated reading any and all of it. Totally disgusting. I rarely give up reading a book, but really couldn't stomach the whole of this and abandoned the final short story collection «Teheran, een zwanenzang» en the novella «Bandoeng-Bandung». If there is an axis of (Dutch) colonial and imperialistic evil it must surely be Indonesia - New Guinea - Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - Angola - Iran. Just imagine.… (mehr)
 
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edwinbcn | Nov 13, 2018 |
Obviously, the general reading public has very little idea of the life of diplomats in far off posts. These "Collected Stories" are based on Springer's experience as a member of the diplomatic corps of the Netherlands in the Far East. The stories are nefarious in the sense that they give a pretty good but superficial idea of the life of diplomatic expats: quite a lot of the decadence is shown but none of the sexist, racial and colonial corruption. Two thirds of the stories are about diplomats in Dutch New Guinea, and while in the late 1950s they still drip and drool of the kind of colonial sentiment that western people ought to be ashamed of, particularly when referring to our own colonial past. The final two stories are about the life of expats in Bangkok in the 1970s.… (mehr)
 
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edwinbcn | Nov 13, 2018 |
http://www.mytwostotinki.com/?p=153

Fergus Steyn is a bit bored after his retirement. After a professionally successful but obviously quite lonely private life, he is indulging in his childhood memories especially since he was invited as a conference speaker. The conference is on the experience of those Dutch who were repatriated from the former Dutch East Indies after WWII and Fergus Steyn is supposed to deliver a speech and a conference paper on that occasion.

After an early childhood in a caring middle-class family in Batavia (now Jakarta), young Fergus is spending a hard time after the invasion of the East Indies by Japanese troops. Dutch women and children are interned in a camp near Bandung, whereas the men – among them also Fergus’ father – are brought to a slave labor camp in Burma. But Fergus is lucky: his family is surviving the hardships of war and internment and is being repatriated in 1946. But the journey to the Netherlands proves to be much more difficult as the Steyns expected: the women and children are first brought to Ceylon before they are reunited with their husbands and fathers and they have to pass a quite long period on this tropical island before they can proceed with their journey home.

During the ship passage and the time in Kandy, Ceylon, young Fergus (called “Taffy”) gets acquainted with other children with a similar background. There is the ever-hungry Bollie and his big brother Hermann, Filip and his sister Flortje, the Indo boy Jop called "Djangkrik", and the charismatic girl Pinkie who forms a kind of gang with a secret language and code of this odd group of kids in puberty. The three months in the jungle camp of Kandy are like a paradise for the children: they get acquainted with strange animals and people, they watch films almost on a daily basis in the outdoor cinema, they make friends with gurkha soldiers, while their mothers drink tea and make small talk and try to speed up their reunion with the husbands who are stranded somewhere in Thailand and waiting for a transport to bring the families back to Holland.

Fergus develops an innocent friendship with Pinkie but on one occasion Pinkie is touching Fergus’ leg and this touch is the beginning of a new feeling. Only later, after Fergus has departed from Kandy (and Pinkie) and has returned home with his family, he begins to understand that he loved Pinkie. The invitation to the conference is bringing this lifelong feeling of having missed an opportunity, of not having lived a love that he never experienced again, back to the retired Fergus Steyn. Under the pretext to prepare the conference speech he is visiting two of his childhood friends from Kandy, a slightly disappointing experience. But at least he gets the address of Pinkie, now an old lady living in London with her husband. Finally Fergus is preparing to meet his first love so many years later…

Carel Jan Schneider (1932-2011), the author of Kandy was publishing his books under the pseudonym F. Springer. Maybe he thought that for a diplomat – he held various positions in the diplomatic service including that of the last Dutch Ambassador in East Berlin – it is not proper to publish novels and stories, maybe he just wanted to avoid gossip about his mostly autobiographical works. And Fergus Steyn seems to be really the alter ego of its author. "Kandy" is a melancholic book and like his acclaimed novel “Bougainville” has an unlived love as a central topic. The “Forever and ever!”, the oath of the youth gang that was once created by Pinkie, is being replaced by a “Too late!” at the end of the book. What happens in between is told by F. Springer with delicacy and in an elegant style.

F. Springer is an author that is still to be discovered in the English-speaking world, although most of his books are translated in German and “Bougainville” also in French. As far as I know, none of his works is up to now being translated into English. Publishers are kindly invited to change this: they will render readers a valuable service. F. Springer was for very good reasons compared with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Graham Greene.
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Mytwostotinki | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Dec 14, 2015 |

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