The Man Without Illness
"Even more than his East Indian looks – which create confusion at times, a man in a bar once had spoken loudly about the Yellow Menace, while looking empathically in Sam’s direction – this is what forms the core of his identity: the absence of illness. He needs no wheelchair, no round-the-clock nursing, he is lord and master of his own body. At first he had been the child, then the boy and now the man with no illness. Whatever else he may be or may become, he is above all healthy, in mind and body."
In The Man Without Illness, the young Swiss architect Samarendra travels to Baghdad to work on a design for a new opera house. He is convinced that the duty of the architect is to make people’s lives easier and more beautiful.
Read a part in English here.
Also available as an audiobook.
Nijgh & Van DitmarBook party
On the 4th of June 2012 De man zonder ziekte was presented in Materia, Amsterdam. Architect Nanne de Ru spoke with Grunberg. Organized by Michiel van Raaij and Architectuurweb. Photo by: Jochem Eerden.
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Video
Materia, Amsterdam, 06.04.2012
Music by Ludovic Bource - George Valentin
© Pascalle Bonnier & Ingeborg Schavemaker
Arnon Grunberg reading from the novel at the celebration of 175 years Nijgh & Van Ditmar in Paradiso on the 7th of June 2012. Photo by: Martin Pluimers
Editions
Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam 2012. A hardcover edition (second print) with a thumbprint and a signature of Grunberg. 300 copies.
Rubinstein, Amsterdam 2012. Audiobook (read by Jan Donkers).
Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam 2013.
Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam 2017.
Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam 2023.
Gouden Boekenuil nominee
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