a presentation on a book on their
reading list Dutch literature.
'Han de Wit gaat in ontwikkelingshulp'
by Heere Heeresma was the choice of Ien.
Paul had thought about Slauerhoff
but had eventually chosen Hugo Claus'
'Verdriet van België'. That suited Henk.
He hadn't been able to find much on
the poetry of Jan Arends. From the material
on Slauerhoff that Paul had gathered,
he could have made two presentations.
Erdal was advised by Henk to also choose
a poet. "Half the presentation can be
filled with reciting poems." So Erdal
began his presentation on Jan Hanlo with:
"Tjielp tjielp – tjielp tjielp tjielp"
At the editorial meeting of the school paper
Paul proudly stated that he started a novel
with the provisional title 'The haze of Slovakia'
What he didn't say was that he had not much more
than a title, a map and a tourist guide of the
Carpathians. He had read biographies on
Robert Maxwell, who came from that region.
That used to be called Ruthenia. Anneke
van Driest knew that Joseph Roth, the author
of 'The Radetzky March', was from there.
