Geerten Meijsing

Dutch author Geerten Meijsing seems to be the type of writer who reinvents themselves with every new book. Thus, there are great differences in concept of each book. What remains, is a kind of culture of the author, his personal style, closely tied to his lifestyle, that hovers over many of his books.

Meijsing started his career as a writer as part of a collective, publishing their books under the name Joyce & Co. The two writers forming the collective seem very unequal, and surprisingly show more little is known about the other writer, who seems to have been more active as a translator. That other writer, named Kees Snel appears in Meijsing's books under the name Kanger or Keith. Very little is known about the relation between these two writers.

From 2009 - 2019, a decade, Geerten Meijsing published very few books with mainstream publishers. In 2009, a foundation was incorporated of friends and fans of the author, aimed at financially supporting him. They arranged for publication of his writings during this period. This foundation was called ""Vrienden van de Vorm. After 2019, new publications started appearing again with mainstream publishers.

Malocchio. Een Toscaanse jeugd is a novel. The title suggests that the novel describes the youth of the writer who appears as a character in the novel. That authors bears some resemblance with Meijsing.

The novel is pleasure to read for fans of Geerten Meijsing. In a lighly mocking style, he writes about everything that is typical about Italy, the Italians and Italian culture. This light en enjoyable banter is kept up for about 100 pages. After that, the focus switches to the girl, describing her childhood, and the relation with her father, the writer, and an absent mother. It does not become very clear why the girl is nicknames "malocchio" and what would be mischievous or evil about her. Perhaps the whole story is just a bad dream, that fails to come true. show less

These three books form the Erwin-trilogy, published under the pseudonym of the writer's collective Joyce & Co subsequently under the sole authorship of Geerten Meijsing. Strongly based in aestheticism and decadence, these novels explore the hedonistic lifestyle of the writer from three aspects, volume 1 in rhetorica, volume 2 in painting and volume 3 in music. Particularly volume 1 is highly contrived and very erudite if not downright pedantic. Volume 2 is by far the most readable, while show more volume 3, published almost a decade later is fairly bland. The artificiality of the style of volume 1 foreshadows some of the later work of Meijsing with craft and art standing above nature. The three books are the expression of a very personal writing style and an overdose of vanity. show less

«Erwins Echo» is a collection of short stories related to but not part of, and therefore published separately from the Erwin-trilogy which I read last month. The stories are more accessible than Vol. One of the trilogy, but likewise dwell on the aestheticism and hedonism of the main character. With scenes set both in Haarlem and Italy, the stories provide an exquisite background and are beautifully written. Still, it's unlikely that the stories would be of interest to readers not familiar show more with the first two volumes of the Erwin-trilogy. show less

These three books form the Erwin-trilogy, published under the pseudonym of the writer's collective Joyce & Co subsequently under the sole authorship of Geerten Meijsing. Strongly based in aestheticism and decadence, these novels explore the hedonistic lifestyle of the writer from three aspects, volume 1 in rhetorica, volume 2 in painting and volume 3 in music. Particularly volume 1 is highly contrived and very erudite if not downright pedantic. Volume 2 is by far the most readable, while show more volume 3, published almost a decade later is fairly bland. The artificiality of the style of volume 1 foreshadows some of the later work of Meijsing with craft and art standing above nature. The three books are the expression of a very personal writing style and an overdose of vanity. show less