Slate, Paradise Lost:
“Why is it not acceptable, for example, for me to write “the novelist Cees Nooteboom,” without having to attach that ubiquitous appendage, “the Dutch novelist Cees Nooteboom”? Because we assume his novels express some trace or essence of Dutchness, some distinct, if ineffable, coloring that makes them necessarily different from German, Swedish, Danish, or, for that matter, Japanese novels? Because, as readers, we resist the idea of an undifferentiated world culture, dominated by instantly recognizable (primarily American and European) brands, i.e., “Things go better with Philip Roth”? These are difficult, perhaps even slightly ridiculous, questions, but they are entirely relevant, as it happens, to the work of Cees Nooteboom.”
