Journey Through the Night

Last updated
Reis door de nacht
Author Anne de Vries
Country the Netherlands
LanguageDutch
Genre Christian literature, children's literature, historical literature, war novel
Publisher Callenbach
Publication date
1951-1958
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages474 (2012 edition)
ISBN 9780921100256

Journey Through the Night (Dutch: Reis door de nacht) is a novel, originally in four volumes published from 1951 to 1958, by Dutch author Anne de Vries. The novel centers around the representation of the Second World War in the Netherlands and the impact it had on a reformed family. Since its publication, it has been translated in English several times, most recently in 2001 by Inheritance Publications. .

Contents

Background

Anne de Vries was born in Kloosterveen, on the countryside of Drenthe and lived on a "lonely farm". He however moved to Zeist, a wealthy town between Utrecht and Amsterdam, to become a teacher at a local school. As he longed back to his childhood on the countryside, De Vries wrote the novel Bartje in the 1930s, which quickly became a popular work of fiction and resulted in De Vries' breakthrough as a writer.

In 1940, De Vries moved back to Drenthe. [1] During the Second World War, De Vries was involved in the Dutch Resistance. [2] De Vries also held contacts with Johannes Post, of whom he later also wrote a biography. In 1945, De Vries was arrested by the Sicherheitsdienst, but was released because one of the Nazi officers loved his novel Hilde . [3]

Stichting 1940-1945, which takes care of the commemorations of the war in the Netherlands, plead Anne de Vries to write an educational children's novel on the war. [4] In Reis door de nacht, De Vries decided to combine both actual events in his life in the 1940s and fiction. [5]

Plot

The book is divided into 4 parts:

The main character is Jan (in the translation John) de Boer. He is the eldest son of the family. During World War 2, the 5 year German occupation, he gets involved in the Resistance.

The Storm Rises

Two years have passed. The family is getting used to the war. But father De Boer joins the Underground Resistance. Jan and his sister Guusje (in the translation Tricia) also get involved. At the end of the chapter a meeting of the Underground Resistance is thwarted by the Germans and the family must go underground. During the last chapter, Uncle Gerrit hides in the house from Germans while the rest of the family escape. He is forced to use the house's secret tunnel to escape from the Germans and he flees into the forest. The de Boer family house in destroyed by a German grenade and burns to the ground. The book finishes with the de Boer family hiding in a forest as the Germans destroy their house.

Morning Glory

After the Germans have destroyed the house of De Boer, Jan is in hiding. An old friend joins the Fight Force (Knok Ploeg (KP)). After his adventures in the FF the force is betrayed and Jan must go into hiding again.

Reception

Reception upon release

A Gereformeerd gezinsblad journalist praised the book for its story-telling and said that the book teaches the younger generation about the war. [6] A journalist of the De Heerenveensche koerier critiqued the second part of the novel for being slightly idealistic. [7]

Modern reception

Although the novel is generally seen as a classic, there has also been criticism that the novel represents a 1950s view of the Second World War that is not dominant anymore. While in Reis door de nacht, taking the right moral choices is seen as one of the main features of being a good person, 21st century historians argue that most Dutch people ended up in certain situations by mere accident. [8]

In 2018, Reis door nacht was part of an exposition of children's literature in the Second World War, alongside Oorlogswinter . [9]

Influences on other work

Dutch author Maarten 't Hart, who grew up in a reformed environment, stated that De Vries' depiction of the character Wiesje Langemaat in the novel awakened his interest in travesty. [10] Wiesje Langemaat is a side character and knokploeg member who was born as Koos, but decided on wearing woman's clothes and behaving as a woman after having had to be dressed up as a woman to escape an arrest.

Related Research Articles

Heracles Almelo Association football club in the Netherlands

Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to the Eredivisie for the first time in 28 years. The club has remained in the top division ever since. In 2012, reached the KNVB Cup final for the first time in club history, losing to PSV in the final. The club's main rival is FC Twente.

Nederlands Dagblad is a Dutch daily newspaper, available nationwide, with a daily circulation of 23,800 issues.

Anne de Vries Dutch teacher and author

Anne de Vries was a Dutch teacher and author, particularly famous in the Netherlands for his novels of regional life.

Chris Arlman Dutch politician

Christiaan "Chris" Arlman was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). During 26 years he was the mayor of four different municipalities, and the chairman of two professional football clubs. He is most noted for developing wellness tourism to Nieuweschans, being the first mayor of a united Pekela, and for expanding the sea port of Harlingen, as well as handling major budget crises at BV Veendam and Cambuur Leeuwarden.

The Letter for the King is a book by the Dutch writer Tonke Dragt, first published in 1962. A sequel, Geheimen van het Wilde Woud, was published in 1965, and a collection of follow-up short stories, Het gevaarlijke venster en andere verhalen, in 1979. De brief voor de koning was chosen as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the 20th century.

Winschoten railway station Railway station in the Dutch village of Winschoten

Winschoten is an unstaffed railway station in Winschoten in the Netherlands. It is located on the Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway between Scheemda and Bad Nieuweschans in the province of Groningen.

<i>Schimmen van schoonheid</i> Book by Louis Couperus

Schimmen van schoonheid is a collection of short stories, written by Louis Couperus and published by Van Holkema & Warendorf in 1912. It is not known how many copies were printed for the first edition, but this edition was in any case sold out by 1929. The second edition was published in 1962 by Querido in the so-called Salamander series.

Siert Bruins

Siert Bruins, also known as Siegfried Bruns and nicknamed the Beast of Appingedam, was a Dutch member of the SS and SD during World War II.

Fedde Schurer

Fedde Schurer was a Dutch schoolteacher, journalist, language activist and politician, and one of the most influential poets in the West Frisian language of the 20th century.

Kortebaanschaatsen

Kortebaanschaatsen refers to an old form of Dutch ice skating tournament that goes back to the 18th century. It is not to be confused with the modern speed skating sport known as short track speed skating. The sport is similar to harness racing and is similarly setup in two straight lanes of 160 meters.

NDC Mediagroep is a Dutch publisher of newspapers, magazines, and websites focused on the three northern provinces of the Netherlands: Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen. It is owned by Mediahuis. Headquarters are in Leeuwarden, other offices in Groningen and Meppel. In addition to three main provinces, NDC publishes and distributes also in the Kop van Overijssel, Noordoostpolder, and northern Flevoland.

Hotel des Indes (The Hague) Hotel in The Hague

Hotel Des Indes is a hotel located at the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, The Netherlands. It was constructed as a mansion in 1858. In 1881, it opened as a hotel.

The WNC squat was a self-managed social centre in Groningen, the Netherlands. It was squatted in 1985 and evicted in 1990.

Jos van Manen Pieters Dutch writer

Jos van Manen Pieters was a Dutch writer. She wan the Athos Award in 1965.

Jeltje Haanstra Dutch speed skater

Jeltje Haanstra was a Dutch kortebaan speed skater from Katlijk.

Henri Dekking (writer) Dutch journalist

Henri Dekking was a Dutch journalist and writer.

Max Reisel was a Dutch semiticist and a teacher at the Montessori Lyceum Rotterdam. He strove in the dissemination of knowledge about Judaism in general and Hebrew language in particular. He played an important role in the field of education in the Netherlands.

Noord-Nederlandse Golf & Country Club

The Noord-Nederlandse Golf & Country Club is located on the historical De Poll estate in Groningen, Netherlands. The site is known for its beauty and is covered by the Dutch national 'Natural Beauty Act' (Natuurschoonwet).

Esmée van Eeghen Dutch resistance fighter in World War II

Esmée Adrienne van Eeghen was a Dutch resistance fighter in World War II. Van Eeghen is controversial because she fell in love with a German officer, but in spite of this played a significant role in the resistance, especially in Friesland, a role that would ultimately be fatal for her, due to her turbulent love life. The character Rachel Stein from the 2006 film Black Book was based on the life of van Eeghen.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.