Thé Lau (1952–2015)

Thé Lau was a musician, who played pop music in a band, and a writer. Unfortunately, he died relatively young. His novels are not widely read, and his short stories even less. However, I found that this collection of short stories contains some of his best writing.

For a collection of short stories, the book has an unusual structure, a structure which is more often used for a novel. A man crawls along a gutter on the roof to get to the room of a woman on the same floor at a hotel. The image jars as it resembles crawling along a ledge (personally I don't really see crawling along a gutter as so likely), and apparently the prose fragments are memories of his life. These memories pop up as he crawls along the gutter. This image is sustained throughout the book, so that the reader keeps wondering how long that gutter is (thank god it holds), and how much time is thus spent.

The string of prose fragments which is thus created consists of memories, anecdotes and stories about music and musicians. As a singer on the road, the author must have a fair share of stories to tell, and the stories in the book seem entirely authentic, although somewhat exaggerated, perhaps.

Thé Lau's grandfather was also called Thé Lau. The family lived in Bergen where they formed part of the Bergen School, a painter's movement which arose from Dutch expressionism. Simeon ten Holt, also grew up in this artistic enclave.… (meer)

Thé Lau is mostly remembered as a musician. From 1979 he played in bands, originally playing the guitar and later became the lead singer. His career as a published writer ran parallel with the appearance of his music albums. His first album appeared in 1998, and De sterren van de hemel was his debut as a writer, published in 2000.

De sterren van de hemel zingen / spelen is a Dutch expression which means sing / play musiv tremendously well. The title of his first published collection of short stories, De sterren van de hemel, refers to this expression, and the word "hemel" (sky) also appears in the title of his first novel, Hemelrijk, four years later.

De sterren van de hemel contains 7 stories. The first story, about a prostitute who teasingly flirts with a boy with down syndrom is probably the best. It is the most coherent, although the twist at the end makes it traditional. In many stories music plays a role, jazz, classical music, but it isn't foregrounded.… (meer)