Summary of The Darkroom of Damocles
After the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Henri Osewoudt, a young tobacconist from Voorschoten (near Leiden) meets Dorbeck, a fellow Dutchman who bears an uncanny resemblance to him. Dorbeck implicates him in resistance activities, leading to a series of murders, imprisonment, and personal drama for Osewoudt. Following the liberation in 1945, Osewoudt is unexpectedly accused of collaborating with the Germans. To prove his innocence, he tries to find Dorbeck, but everyone is convinced that Dorbeck is a figment of his imagination and not a real person.
Reasons to read The Darkroom of Damocles
“The Darkroom of Damocles” is both a suspenseful war novel and a psychological exploration of identity and the impossibility to truly understand reality. Willem Frederik Hermans was one of the most renowned Dutch authors of the 20th century. His best-known works are “The Darkroom of Damocles” and “Beyond Sleep”. Hermans won the “Prize of Dutch Letters” in 1977. Milan Kundera was a great admirer of this book, and it is said to have inspired John Le Carré’s “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”.
Setting: Voorschoten (the Netherlands)
Book set in the Netherlands: Voorschoten (a small Dutch town near Leiden)
Original title: De donkere kamer van Damocles
Year of publication: 1958
Nr of pages: 416
