Part I of this book was first published as Berlijnse notities in 1990 by Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam. The prologue “Grensoverschrijding” (Crossing the Border) has been added, and was previously published in Waar je gevallen bent, blijf je (Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 1983), and the intermezzos “Vestigia pedis” and “Oeroude tijden” (Ancient Times), previously published in De wereld een reiziger (Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 1989), were then added to a later Dutch edition.
Part II includes three pieces from De filosoof zonder ogen (Uitgeverij De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 1997): “Berlijnse suite” (Berlin Suite), “Dode vliegtuigen en overal adelaars” (Dead Aeroplanes and Eagles Everywhere, previous title: “Hamburg”) and “Dorp binnen de Muur” (Village within the Wall, previous title: “De verdwenen muur”).
“Rheinsberg, een intermezzo” (Rheinsberg, an intermezzo) was published in de Volkskrant on January 1, 1997. “Terugkeer naar Berlijn” (Return to Berlin) is a speech given by Cees Nooteboom on December 7, 1997, in Berlin at the invitation of Bertelsmann AG (“Berliner Lektionen”). It has previously been published in book form by Uitgeverij Atlas, Amsterdam, 1998.
Part III was published in Dutch for the first time in 2009, with the exception of a few pieces: the opening speech for the exhibition at the COBRA Museum appeared in Vrij Nederland on 18 October 2008; the acceptance speech for the award of the honorary doctorate from the Freie Universität Berlin was previously published in Vrij Nederland (January 31, 2009), “Dunkle Tage” (Dark Days) appeared in the Frankfurter Rundschau (December 24, 2008) and the “Orgel Feldberg” (Feldberg’s Organ) piece was in Preludium (May 2009).
These texts are published for the first time here in English, and Part IV was written for this edition.
The fables that make up the Epilogue were first published in N.R.C. Handelsblad, Amsterdam, in 1993, and were read by the author at the Munich Philharmonie on September 16, 1993, on the occasion of a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra.”