Summary of CharacterÂ
Jacob Katadreuffe is the illegitimate son of Dreverhaven, a bailiff in Rotterdam during the interwar period. Raised in poverty by his mother, Jacob manages to work himself up to become a successful lawyer. However, his own father attempts to sabotage his career, and the two men stubbornly oppose each other.
Reasons to read Character
“Character” is a coming-of-age story that resolves around the conflict between two strong characters: the father, an established and powerful man, and the son, a social climber. The novel is written in a detached, matter-of-fact style and is regarded a masterpiece of Dutch literature. Bordewijk, a distinguished Dutch writer, won the P. C. Hooft Award in 1953 and the Constantijn Huygens Prize in 1957. “Character” is his most famous work and was adapted into a Dutch-language film (“Karakter”) that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 1998. The Bordewijk literature prize is named after him.
Setting: Rotterdam (the Netherlands)
Original title: Karakter
Year of publication: 1938
Nr of pages: 288
