Herman Koch is a Dutch writer and actor.  He has written short stories, novels, and columns.  His best-selling novel The Dinner (2009) has been translated into 21 languages.  He has acted for radio, television, and film.  Koch was born in Arnhem, Netherlands.  His family moved to Amsterdam when he was two years old.  He went to the Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam from which he was expelled.  Although his native language is Dutch, he also speaks English, German, and Spanish.  He contributed to the comedy show Borat (1984–1989) for radio.  Together with Kees Prins and Michiel Romeyn, Koch created the long-running absurdist and satiric series Jiskefet (1990–2005; Trash Can) for television, in which he also acted.  And he played minor roles in the movie The Flying Liftboy (1998), the 2000 TV series of the same name, and Voetbalvrouwen (2007; Footballers' Wives).  His debut was De voorbijganger (1985; The Passerby) a collection of short stories.  His first novel was Red ons, Maria Montanelli (1989; Save Us, Maria Montanelli).  In 2005, Koch wrote the text for the Grand Dictation of the Dutch Language.  His sixth novel was Het diner (2009; The Dinner), which was translated into 21 languages including English, has sold over one million copies throughout Europe and won the 2009 NS Audience award (Dutch: NS Publieksprijs).  A Dutch play of The Dinner was in theaters in 2012, and a Dutch movie version was released in 2013. https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/9088-dinner-koch?showall=1  

On September 19, 2013, it was announced that Cate Blanchett would make her directorial debut with a film adaptation of the Dutch thriller novel The Dinner, by Herman Koch, scripted by Oren Moverman.  Caldecot Chubb produced under his ChubbCo Film banner, and Lawrence Inglee, Eddie Vaisman and Julia Lebedev produced the film for Code Red, ChubbCo and Blackbird. Code Red fully financed the film and Protagonist Pictures handles international sales.  Olga Segura and Eva Maria Daniels executive produced, and helped with the development of the project.  Later, in January 2016, it was announced that Moverman would also direct the film.  That same month, Charlie Plummer and Adepero Oduye joined the cast of the film.  Principal photography on the film began on January 21, 2016, in Dobbs Ferry, New York.  Later, filming took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, including at the Gettysburg National Military Park.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dinner_(2017_film)



Concepts of utopia and dystopia represent imaginary societies in which people live their life either in a perfect environment, governed by the laws that provide happiness to everyone, or in an oppressive society that is ruled by the repressive and controlled state.  Origin of these concepts can be traced to the year of 380BC when Greek philosopher Plato released his influential political dialogue called “Republic”.  In it, he first postulated the main themes of utopian society and his visions of the perfect Greek city-state that provided stable life for all of its citizens.  The modern world “Utopia” came to life during early years of 16th century, in the work of the famous English philosopher Thomas More.  The 19th century gave the birth of the largest wave of utopian thought the world has ever seen.  Numerous novelist and philosophers focused their careers on the exploration of those themes, and the result of their work influenced the audiences across the entire world.  Most notable utopian novel from that period was without a doubt “Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy.  End of the 19th century brought the rise of Dystopian thought.  Numerous philosophers and authors imagined the dark visions of the future where totalitarian rulers governed the life of ordinary citizens.  Some of the earliest and influential works of dystopian fiction can be contributed to the authors H.G. Wells (Time Machine), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World) and George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four).  Their works paved the way to the numerous other authors, who event today manage to envision some new aspect of life in dystopian societies. In addition to literature, dystopian themes found its life in many other types of mediums, such as comic books (most notably V for Vendetta, Transmetropolitan, Y:  The Last Man and Akira), music, video games (Fallout, Deus Ex and BioShock ) television series (The Prisoner, Dark Angel, Doctor Who and Twilight Zone) and movies (Metropolis, Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange and Matrix).

http://www.utopiaanddystopia.com/



Cremini mushrooms (also referred to as cremino, common brown, and Roman), are commonly marketed as “baby bella” or “baby portobello” mushrooms because they are just that—a juvenile portobello mushroom.  These mushrooms are dark brown and firmer than the common white button mushroom.  https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-cremini-and-portobello-mushrooms-229645



gumption  noun  From Scots gumption (“common sense, shrewdness; drive, initiative”); further etymology unknown, possibly connected with Middle English gome (“attention, heed”), from Old Norse gaumr (“attention, heed”).  English cognates include gaum (“to comprehend, understand”) and goam (“to recognize, see”).  (usually uncountable)  (Britain) Common sense, initiative, resourcefulness. [from early 18th c.] quotations ▼ Synonym:  gumph (US) Boldness of enterprise; aggressiveness or initiative. quotations ▼ Synonyms: chutzpah, gumph, guts, spunk  (US)  Energy of body and mind, enthusiasm. quotations ▼

Synonym:  gumph  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gumption



Just as we were warned decades ago about the military-industrial complex, we’re now living with a twisted literary-industrial complex:  it sucks in young authors and their works at one end, expends inordinate energy on marketing and promotion, and spits out extravagant accolades at the other—regardless of the actual quality of the product.  The content of each story is in many ways equally predictable.  There is violence, there is oppression, there is suffering.  Oh, the injustice of it all.  There is a raised, then forgotten, then over-emphasized, extended metaphor clumsily stamped upon the stories to give them a unifying image.  There is love and sex.  In fact, there are few chapters in which sex is not brought to the fore, at least for a time.  This is gratuitous, as even in a book that depends on each generation procreating to keep up its momentum, delving into the details of the act is unnecessary.  While I have never heard of it being applied to a work of literary fiction, in science fiction there exists the concept of the “Mary Sue.”  This is a class of fan fiction that relies on the author, often overtly, writing themselves into the story as a vital element.  They are perhaps not a lead character, but they are a supporting character without which the hero cannot succeed.  Christopher Daly 

https://thebettereditor.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/critical-of-the-critics-homegoing-by-yaa-gyasi/



Sabrina Ghayour’s recipe for Spice-Marinated Beef Kabobs from her book, Feast, relies on a powerful combo of spices plus time.  Sirloin steak is cut into generous pieces and marinated with smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, lots of garlic, lemon juice and oil.  serves 6-8  Find recipe at https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/spice-marinated-beef-kebabs



Authors and translators the Muser is grateful for

Sam Garrett  https://www.pushkinpress.com/how-i-became-a-translator-sam-garrett/

Herman Koch  https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/herman-koch/



A THOUGHT FOR TODAY  Take a commonplace, clean it and polish it, light it so that it produces the same effect of youth and freshness and originality and spontaneity as it did originally, and you have done a poet's job.  The rest is literature. - Jean Cocteau, author and painter (5 Jul 1889-1963)



http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2120  July 5, 2019