WIJ ZIJN LICHT (NOI SIAMO LUCE) by Gerda Blees (Iperborea, 2022)
This thought provoking novel addresses topical themes of personal freedom and explores how far one should legitimately go in challenging social norms. It also touches upon issues related to conspiracy theories that arise from real or imagined state control.
The plot revolves around a small group of individuals (three women and one man) who subscribe to a belief that bodily nutrition derives not from food and drink but from light, music, meditation and openness to one’s own and others’ emotions. The extreme views of this ‘Sound & Love’ (Klank & Liefde) commune is based on an actual group of this name who stopped eating in Utrecht. In fiction, as in in real life, this predictably resulted in the death of one of the members though malnutrition.
Continue reading
There are certain novels, like Robert Musil’s ‘The Man Without Qualities’, that I find too daunting to even attempt and others, such as Malcolm Lowry’s ‘Under The Volcano’ that I have tried but failed to complete.
