100 Years of Stylitude

When you're learning a new language, a new author or speaker is jarring. One thing that makes De eeuw van mijn vader so difficult is the abundance of authors. Geert "Big" Mak quotes extensively from various family members, other historians, and contemporary news accounts. The sources he quotes from vary in style due to the fact that they are from different people in different eras. He also varies his own style. When writing about events, the sentences are short and clear. When writing about ideas, his sentences get extremely long, and his vocabulary becomes very dense.

In terms of content, a couple of loose ends come to mind that didn't quite fit in my chapter summaries. First, Mak describes the death of Hendrikus Colijn in the rudest terms. He was forever the accomodator, even after the occupation was under way. He wrote against resistance and died in Germany in 1944. Also, I would like to have seen the death of Kaiser Wilhelm mentioned. He died in June of 1940, in the recently occupied Netherlands. I wonder how the Germans handled it and what effect it had on the Dutch.

I am now on page 337, in the middle of a long chapter.

Colijn-oscopy

Finally, I'm reading the book again. The Maks went back to the Netherlands for a visit in the early 30s. There was lots of new technology being showcased, including television.

Of course, the Depression was on. The title of this post refers to (Prime Minister?) Colijn, who was in charge at the time. Like President Hoover, he had no idea of the depth of what confronted him. Like Roosevelt, he did radio chats. One of them included handy tips on how to get by with less and make fish head soup.

Mak points out that the Church opposed measures such as shorter workdays and early retirements, but so far, he isn't dwelling on it. This, along with some prior knowledge about the Depression makes for easier reading.