 | |
| Author | Willem Frederik Hermans |
|---|---|
| Original title | De donkere kamer van Damokles |
| Translator | Roy Edwards |
| Language | Dutch |
| Publisher | G. A. van Oorschot |
Publication date | 1958 |
| Publication place | Netherlands |
Published in English | 1962 |
| Pages | 335 |
The Darkroom of Damocles (Dutch: De donkere kamer van Damokles) is a war novel by the Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans, published in 1958. An immediate success since it was first published, the novel has been printed in numerous editions and is considered one of the greatest World War II novels.[1] The book has been translated into English twice, in 1962 by Roy Edwards, and again in 2007 by Ina Rilke. It was adapted into the 1963 film Like Two Drops of Water, directed by Fons Rademakers.[2] Le Carré's spy novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was in part inspired by The Darkroom of Damocles by Hermans, who suspected plagiarism.[3]
- ^ Kundera, Milan (25 January 2007). "La poésie noire et l'ambigüité" [Black poetry and ambiguity]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ "Als twee druppels water". filmfestival.nl (in Dutch). Netherlands Film Festival. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
- ^ "The spy writer who held a grudge against Le Carré comes in from the cold". The Guardian/The Observer Books. London. 12 September 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
"I have the impression that he [Le Carré] based his Spy largely on my book," said Hermans, whose novel tells the story of a man who carries out dangerous missions with British agents during the German occupation of the Netherlands.