When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein she was only 21 years old. A horror story competition during a rainy summer at the Lake of Geneva with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron laid ground for this very influential classic novel. The novel however, goes beyond being a pure scary story and can also be read against the grain as a story about love and longing for affection. The creature made by Victor Frankenstein is throughout the novel in a constant quest for attention from its inventor. Other novels and short stories by Mary Shelley like the fantastic over-the-top gothic Matilda are also worth the while.

On Monday November 26 at the age of 77 Bernardo Bertolucci passed away. As the son of the famous Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci he decided not to follow in his father’s footsteps and choose cinema as preferred art. He accomplished his first success with Il conformista, a beautiful yet eerie Freudian film against the backdrop of fascist Italy. Nowadays Bertolucci is most known for Last Tango in Paris (1972). The movie however is until today controversial. Other known films are Novecento (1976), The Last Emperor (1987), The Dreamers (2003) and Io e te (2012) (sv). (Bron: “Overleden filmregisseur Bernardo Bertolucci: groots, complex en controversieel”, uit De Morgen, 26 november 2018)

Poet, playwright and novelist Judith Herzberg was awarded the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch Literature Prize). The prize, which is granted every three years, is considered the most prestigious literary price in the Dutch-speaking world. Judith Herzberg is celebrated for her “heartbreaking, understated simple” poetry. COMFORT FOR ROSA

Words of comfort for the sixteen-year-old who grumbles that in that far-off land she finds so few who care to know about the sparkling of her very soul:

Discoverers go on expeditions to make discoveries not to be discovered themselves. Their soul minds their house.

Translation: Rina Vergano, 2002.