A Guardian Angel Recalls
by Willem Frederik Hermans
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Description
""One of the most beautiful novels that I've written." - Willem Frederik Hermans Alberegt, a public prosecutor and self-proclaimed "man of minor failings," speeds through Hook of Holland in his black Renault on May 9, 1940. His every move is guided by the cool and patient hand of a guardian angel. Flitting about from the hood of Alberegt's car to the rim of his windswept hat, the angel attempts to quell their unhappy ward's fears and secrets. (On occasion the heavenly narrator is so ashamed show more of Alberegt that they cover their own face with guardian wings.) The angel, musing for just a moment on the greater suffering of mankind, forgets a frenzied and lovelorn Alberegt at the wheel and Alberegt swerves into a small child crossing the road. This fatal event, on the eve of Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, spins the novel into a nightmare in which even expressions of empathy and humanity are edged out by cynicism and cruelty. Reminiscent of Georges Simenon, Albert Camus, and Kurt Vonnegut, A Guardian Angel Recalls is a brilliant and unnerving masterpiece."-- show lessTags
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"Mijn gemoed liep vol bekommernis" (340).
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Author Information
160+ Works 8,697 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Guardian Angel Recalls
- Original title
- Herinneringen van een engelbewaarder : de wolk van niet weten
- Original publication date
- 1971
- People/Characters
- Bert Alberegt; Sysy; Ottla Lindenbaum
- Important events
- German Invasion of the Netherlands (1940)
- Epigraph
- Thee thinketh, peradventure, that thou art full far from God because that this cloud of unknowing is betwixt thee and thy God: but surely, an it be well conceived, thou art well further from Him when thou hast no cloud of for... (show all)getting betwixt thee and all the creatures that ever be made.
The Cloud of Unknowing, anonymous ± 1370 - First words
- He called upon me without knowing and I was there—after all these years.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Mama, Rense heeft zich van kant gemaakt".
- Original language
- Dutch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 839.313 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures Other Germanic literatures Netherlandish literatures Dutch Dutch fiction
- LCC
- PT5844 .H526 .H37 — Language and Literature German, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures Dutch literature Individual authors or works 1800-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 346
- Popularity
- 91,584
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.60)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Multiple languages
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 3
