Customer Reviews

Villa des Roses

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It has taken quite some time before Alfons de Ridder (better known as Willem Elsschot) got his due recognition as a major author even among his own people, the Flemish, and their northern brothers, the Dutch (who share a common language the same way the British and Americans do).
I consider him to be the most important Dutch language author of the 20th century. Quite a few Dutch and Flemish people share this opinion. Even though his work is little known outside the Dutch language area, Elsschot should really be considered as one of the great figures in world literature, on a par with internationally well known authors as Dickens, Victor Hugo, Chekhov or Cervantes. He did not write any long novels, only short stories. His complete works can be gathered in one 800 page volume. But the quality of these little gems....
As almost all of Elsschot's works, Villa des Roses is based on his personal experiences. It describes the life in a Paris boarding house around 1910. Especially touching is the description of the unfortunate love affair between the servant girl Louise and a young German boarding guest. But there are a lot of other interesting plots and characters in this short story of about 100 pages. Elsschot is a master of observation and phlegmatic, economical description. His simple style is extremely powerful.