Nescio

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Nescio


Born
in Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 22, 1882

Died
July 25, 1961

Genre


Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh was born in Amsterdam, the oldest of four children. After an idealistic youth, he joined the Holland–Bombay Trading Company in 1904, becoming director in 1926, suffering a nervous breakdown leading to a short hospitalization in 1927, and retiring at age fifty-five, on December 31, 1937; he married Aagje Tiket (b. 1883) in 1906 and had four daughters with her, born in 1907, 1908, 1909, and 1912. Meanwhile, as Nescio (Latin for “I don’t know”; he adopted a pseudonym so as not to jeopardize his business career, acknowledging his authorship publicly only in 1929), he wrote what is now considered perhaps the best prose in the Dutch language.

Average rating: 3.86 · 6,213 ratings · 537 reviews · 17 distinct worksSimilar authors
De Uitvreter, Titaantjes, D...

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Amsterdam Stories

by
3.85 avg rating — 981 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions
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De Uitvreter

3.60 avg rating — 673 ratings — published 1911 — 5 editions
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Titaantjes

by
3.77 avg rating — 560 ratings — published 1915 — 8 editions
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De uitvreter / Titaantjes /...

3.69 avg rating — 415 ratings — published 1918 — 18 editions
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Dichtertje

by
3.48 avg rating — 280 ratings — published 1917 — 2 editions
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Boven het dal

4.06 avg rating — 126 ratings — published 1961 — 6 editions
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Verzameld werk

4.48 avg rating — 84 ratings — published 1996 — 7 editions
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Mene Tekel

3.47 avg rating — 70 ratings — published 1946 — 3 editions
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Zingen in het donker. Briev...

3.32 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 2025
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More books by Nescio…
Quotes by Nescio  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“My thoughts are an ocean, they wash woefully up against their limits.”
Nescio, Amsterdam Stories

“God leeft in mijn hoofd. Zijn velden zijn er onmetelijk, zijn tuinen staan er vol schoone bloemen, die niet sterven, en statige vrouwen wandelen er naakt, vele duizenden. En de zon gaat er op en onder en schijnt laag en hoog en weer laag en 't eindeloze gebied is eindeloos 't zelfde en geen oogenblik gelijk. En breede rivieren stroomen er door met vele bochten en de zon schijnt er in en ze voeren 't licht naar de zee. En aan de rivieren mijner gedachten zit ik stilletjes en genoeglijk en rook een steenen pijpje en voel de zon op mijn lijf schijnen en zie 't water stroomen, voortdurend stroomen naar 't onbekende.
En 't onbekende deert mij niet. En ik knik maar eens tegen de schoone vrouwen, die de bloemen plukken in mijn tuinen en hoor den wind ruischen door de hooge dennen, door de wouden der zekerheid, dat dit alles bestaat, omdat ik 't zoo verkies te denken. En ik ben dankbaar dat mij dit gegeven is. En in ootmoed pijp ik nog eens aan en voel mij God, de oneindigheid zelf.
Doelloos zit ik, Gods doel is de doelloosheid. Maar voor geen mensch is het weggelegd dit bij voortduring te beseffen.”
Nescio, Titaantjes

“O, wij namen wraak, wij leerden talen, waarvan zij de namen nooit gehoord hadden en wij lazen boeken waar zij niets van konden begrijpen, wij doorleefden gevoelens waarvan zij het bestaan niet vermoedden. ‘s Zondags liepen wij uren en uren ver over wegen, waar zij nooit kwamen, en op kantoor dachten wij aan de slootjes en de weilanden, die wij gezien hadden en terwijl de heeren ons bevalen dingen te doen waarvan wij ‘t nut niet begrepen, dachten wij er aan, hoe Zondagavond de zon was ondergegaan achter Abcoû.”
Nescio, Titaantjes

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