Character

Ferdinand Bordewijk

ISBN 10: 1566632277 / ISBN 13: 9781566632270

Published by Ivan R Dee, Inc, US, 1999

About this Item

This affecting story is the basis of the Academy Award-winning film Character, named the best foreign film of 1998. In reviewing the film, Roger Ebert called the tale "dark, bitter, and fascinating-about hatred so deep that it can only be ended with a knife.It evokes some of the darker episodes of Dickens and also, in its focus on the grind of poverty and illegitimacy, reflects the twisted stories of family secrets by that grim Victorian, George Gissing. It is essentially the story of a young man growing up and making good, by pluck and intelligence, but all of his success comes out of the desire to spite his father." Ferdinand Bordewijk's protagonist is an illegitimate child, raised in a Rotterdam slum by an independent, self-respecting, and austere mother. The boy's father is a force of nature-violent by design, grasping, and ruthless. Thye young man's rise is a quietly powerful saga. Bordewijk moves the reader because the facts in his novel-the facts of life-are arresting, pungent, and memorable.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781566632270

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Character
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc, US
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1566632277
• ISBN 13: 9781566632270
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 272 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The basis of the Academy AwardDwinning filmessentially the story of a young man growing up in a Rotterdam slum and making good by pluck and intelligence, but all of his success comes out of the desire to spite his violent, grasping, and ruthless father. Roger Ebert called the tale dark, bitter, and fascinating.

About the Author

Ferdinand Bordewijk, who was awarded the Dutch State Prize for literature, wrote more than forty books. Character, the best known of his novels, appears to reflect much of Bordewijk's own experience in the law.