Aristide von Bienefeldt

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND FORMER NOVELS. Little is known about the author. Some say he organized masquerade parties in Paris in the eigthies, with themes like S&M, Transvestism, Haute Couture, and "Disguise yourself as your favourite writer", others claim he played the part of Sheridan in the popular English series KEEPING UP APPEARANCES before establishing himself as an escort in London, with the names of respectable businessmen and other members of the British establishment in the directory of his Moleskine Pocket Diary. Aristide von Bienefeldt was born the day Zambia was added to the growing list of African republics (24th October 1964) and his first novel was published in 2002. CONFESSIONS OF A SON AND HEIR was both highly praised and sharply attacked by the Dutch and the Flemish press because of its explicit homosexual passages (‘Unquestionably written by a master’s hand’, Haarlems Dagblad, ‘His style is unbelievably good for a débutant’, Nederlands Dagblad, ‘A respectable publishing house wouldn’t have bothered to send this piece of trash back to its owner’, Twentse Courant, ‘It is a great pleasure to read CONFESSIONS, if it were only for the comical predictability that each man who crosses the protagonist’s path, ends up having sex with him, NRC Handelsblad).CONFESSIONS OF A SON AND HEIR tells the story of a young man who is driven by an unlimited sexual hunger to experience the seamy side of life in Paris and in London, at the time of the millennium change. He vacillates between life and death, spitting on petty bourgeois morals. In the meantime he fights against the consequences of a nervous breakdown that paralyses his spirit like a diabolical conspiracy. The young man is the product of the alliance between an aristocratic lineage and a traditional Dutch family of farmers. In less than half a century his noble ancestors dissipated a fortune they had acquired in a highly dubious fashion, while his peasant forefathers tried to ensure themselves a place in paradise, by means of hard labour and multiple copulation blessed by God’s own hand. In order to get the most out of his life, the protagonist turns every second inside out. CONFESSIONS OF A SON AND HEIR is, it goes without saying, a novel about love.In THE ODOURS OF THE REPREHENSIBLE (essays on the reprehensible in modern literature, focusing on destruction, psychosis, outburst, marginalisation, M/M publishers, Amsterdam 2004), the Belgian philosopher Hugo Bousset dedicates a chapter to Aristide von Bienefeldt (THE URGE TO FILL): Whilst reading the first novel of Aristide von Bienefeldt, CONFESSIONS OF A SON AND HEIR, two things came to my mind. First: finally an interesting debut, a novel that thrills me. Secondly: I am going to re-read books of Georges Bataille and about Georges Bataille, from which the work of Von Bienefeldt have arisen.In 2003, von Bienefeldt’s second novel, A DECENT YOUNG MAN, was published to more sharply-divided opinion: one Flemish critic spoke about the ‘magnificent’ Aristide von Bienefeldt, while another one wished him a slow and painful death, preferably as a result of AIDS (HP De Tijd, June 2003).In February 2004 the beloved dog of President Bush died and Aristide von Bienefeldt was chosen as one of the thirteen most promising young authors by Magazijn (the Dutch GRANTA).A couple of chapters in translation are available for those who have the ability to offer Walter a bouquet of brandnew readers: English readers, French readers, Chinese readers, why not Italian or Greek readers? Although Aristide von Bienefeldt is ready for lunch with publishers from all over the world, an email conversation be some kind of a solution too, at least in an early stage: [email protected]