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Willem Brakman. Ante Diluvium. Amsterdam. Querido. 1998. 142 pages. 29.90 fl. ISBN 90-214-5417-3.
The author of over thirty novels and novellas in addition to several collections of short stories, Willem Brakman creates in Ante Diluvim a surrealistic world of youthful violence where young boys plot evil acts against their elders and against one another. The "club" of tenthrough-twelve-year-olds meets in a deep ravine near a factory. We find early on that the narrator, known as Old Shatterhand, is given to extremes and that he fantasizes readily. As the narrative progresses, Old Shatterhand decides that an older youth, Maarten Olie, who aspires to become a member of the club, should be murdered. When Maarten tells the members of the club of his earlier experiences with stigmata on his hands and feet,...