Summary

Collection of stories by Dutch authors.

The first story, by Marcellus Emants, is a stream of consciousness of an eccentric philosopher called “Z.”.

The second story, by Louis Couperus, is about a man who cannot resist throwing a pair of opera glasses and thereby killing a bald gentleman sitting below.

The third story, by Arthur Van Schendel, appears to be a discussion about whether people who dream are healthy.

I stopped reading after the third story. I didn’t find them interesting nor informative, and I started getting scared because my wife is Dutch.

Highlights

All from the third story:

But whose mind deserves to be called healthy?

On the other hand, it seems doubtful that a man who dreams a great deal is perfectly healthy.

The only thing he enjoyed was sitting by himself, or better still, walking by himself, because then the fantasies in his head were not disturbed.