Why Voices from Chernobyl is a must-read you will never forget (Svetlana Alexievich)
Review
Nataliia Vdovychenko
28/04/2020
14 minutes to read
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster is one of the most tragic events in European history. Nobel prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich covers the event in her book Voices from Chernobyl giving voice to multiple victims' perspectives through interviews.
What do Knausgård and Instagram travel bloggers have in common? How do social media and contemporary literature inspire and influence each other? The answer lies in this article, where Knausgård is compared to young 'Western' travel bloggers.
In the last years, literary writer Edouard Louis articulated the voices of the gilets jaunes in a series of books and pamphlets. His message, according to Odile Heynders is that ''The writer in 2018/19 has to radically be involved in the present'.
The recent publication of a new Dutch translation of Mein Kampf has sparked a debate on how (if at all) to read the book. Odile Heynders offers one possible reading of the work in this column.
Why you should read "Darkness at noon" (Arthur Koestler)
Review
Nataliia Vdovychenko
12/02/2018
7 minutes to read
Certain kinds of literature cannot be forgotten. Darkness at noon is a must read for everyone who values high quality novels and wants to learn more about the Soviet Union, revolution and history in general.
According to Pieter Duisenberg 'pleasure studies' should be something of the past. The future is in technical studies. But is job perspective the main argument for spending 4 years of your life at university? Odile Heynders does not agree.
Historical facts described by a literary author, and then presented in a television programme in which documentary material and the performance of an actor are intertwined: this is how history and WWII is kept alive, Odile Heynders argues.
This year's theme of the 'Boekenweek' is focussed on forbidden fruit, but is the novel still capable of being truly controversial these days? Forbidden fruit is considered to be the sweetest, but its pulp could be even sweeter.
