Narrative
The Freeloader
De uitvreter
Nescio · 1911
Synopsis
Koekebakker tells the story of Japi, who has come to Amsterdam without work and without any intention of finding any: he lives on other people's money, buys suits he never pays for, and wants to do nothing but sit by the water and look. He lodges first with one friend, then with another, among a group of young men, including the painter Bavink, with whom he spends two days wandering in Veere. His friends are at first irritated by his borrowing, then grow fond of this innocent who lives entirely in the moment.
Context
The story first appeared in the review De Gids in 1911, under a pseudonym; its author did not publicly acknowledge having written it until 1929. It was collected in 1918 with two other stories devoted to the same circle of friends, told by the same narrator, and saw only rare reprints during the author's lifetime. Danielle Losman translated it into French in 2005, in a volume of four stories, and Damion Searls into English in 2012, in the author's first collection published in that language.
Who it is for
A short narrative, in a simple and limpid language, which can be read in French as well as in English. It is worth knowing that everything passes through the eyes of a friend of the main character.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the high points of Dutch prose; eighteen votes in 2002 and twenty-fourth place in 2022 in the canon surveys.