Hilarius Hofstede wrote his experimental prose-work De Markies van Water in Paris in his twenties. It was first published by Pallas Press (Dublin, 1999). The 20th anniversary edition with an afterword by the author was published by Zip Records and is available on Amazon.
De Markies van Water is water personified, water speaking, as well as an account of a monstrous flood invading the author’s country of birth, the Netherlands.
‘Creating a new language is something very few writers have been able to do, and Hofstede certainly can be counted as one of them. As a sustained and genuine (post-) modernist accomplishment, De Markies van Water stands at solitary heights, comparable only to such great works of literature as The Waste Land or Finnegans Wake. I strongly recommend this book; to use the words of Dr. Funkenstein himself:
‘This is a chance to dance away, out of your constrictions.’
G. Van Koningsveld
Irish polymath Patrick Healy’s live-reading of De Markies van Water (1999) was recorded in a water tower in the Dutch province of Zeeland, where a deadly flood wreaked havoc in 1953.
Healy is renowned for his live and studio recordings of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.
‘In Patrick Healy’s recording of Finnegans Wake, which he read over four days, this manic focus of ecstatic reading is evinced through his performance. His voice moves deftly amongst clusters and clips of syllables, as though it had somehow managed to tap into the primordial rhythm beneath the fabric, yet the register rarely changes, maintaining a precarious but consistent tone so as not to become entirely consumed by the chaos that threatens to overtake his body.’
Ollie Evans
8 сен 2024
