Op zich leuke stukjes, maar de meeste zijn anno 2020 wel gedateerd. "De brandmeester" en de "Honderdjarige" zijn de leukste stukjes en redelijk tijdloos ( )

Onder de titel 'Kopstukken" werden door Godfried Bomans in 1947 parodistische interviews met gefingeerde belangrijke personen gebundeld: de pianist, de beroemde vrouw, de mensenredder, de kunstkenner en de moderne dichter, om er maar enkele te noemen. 'Ze zijn eerder representanten van personen dan individuele mensen' schreef Kees Fens in de Volkskrant. Maar langzamerhand, naarmate hij ouder werd, liet Bomans het masker vallen en men ontdekte wie hij werkelijk was: een warmvoelend mens en een interviewer die met zijn gesprekspartners tot de kern der dingen trachtte te komen. ( )

One of my all-time favourite story collections. Originally published in 1947, Bomans' “Kopstukken” presents twenty little tongue-in-cheek interviews (well, mostly interviews) with self-appointed VIPs, taking a satirical look at pettiness and self-importance. Bomans expertly pokes his delicate fun at the human tendency to want to stand out, the need to feel valuable and special. The Gamelan specialist (“De gamelan-kenner”) is a particularly fine example: the audience's comically exaggerated reactions to what they perceive to be an authority on something as arcane as gamelans are minutely planned and skilfully executed. All stories are presented in a charming, playfully archaic Dutch that is eminently suited to the theme.

That is not to say that these stories do not have drawbacks. In a collection of twenty roughly similar stories in which, basically, only the interviewee differs, it does get hard to keep on presenting new techniques and devices to bring out the pettiness. But even with Bomans' recycling of tricks, this collection does not bore easily, mainly because the interviews are so short (around two or three pocket-size pages), and because his interviewees differ enough in their occupations and in the way they carry their self-importance.

Some interviews end quite abruptly once the point has been made, evidently because Bomans didn't feel like dragging it out any further – the rather unsatisfying The Grandmaster “De grootmeester” is a case in point. One or two stories (e.g. The conversation “Het gesprek” and The clairvoyant “De helderziende”) don't have much of a central idea, at least not enough to support the entire tale. But these are easily outweighed by magnificently composed pieces like The Vondel jubilee in Beetsterzwaag “De Vondelherdenking te Beetsterzwaag” or The fire station manager“De Brandmeester”. These two are surely the finest tales in this collection.

None of these stories will make you laugh out loud -- the satire is too mild and too subtle for that. But if you're in for half an hour of private little smiles, then this book will not let you down. ( )

Geestige interviews met bijzondere mensen als de brandweerman(het nathouden van de belende percelen), de 100-jarige ("die woont op het Noorden, dat is een nadeel"; "ik begreep dat het en kwestie van seconden was)".Nederlands cultuurgoed. ( )