The Evenings

Book excerpt: 'A masterwork of comic pathos' Irish Times 'A masterpiece... What can I say that will put this book where it belongs, in readers' hands and minds?' Tim Parks A modern masterpiece, voted the greatest Dutch novel of all time Frits – office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes – finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad, and has terrible dreams of death and destruction. As Frits drinks, smokes, sees friends and aimlessly wanders the gloomy city streets, he tries to make sense of the minutes, hours and days that stretch before him. Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of everyday life and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Sam Garrett Gerard Reve (1923–2006) is considered one of the greatest post-war Dutch authors, and was also the first openly gay writer in the country's history. A complicated and controversial character, Reve is also hugely popular and critically acclaimed – his 1947 debut The Evenings was ranked the best Dutch novel of the twentieth century by the Society of Dutch literature. Childhood is also available from Pushkin Press.