Janet Luis starts her review with a line from an old Bernlef poem: "like an old face is often already visible through the young one (and therefore beautiful)." This is remarkable, because when I started sketching, I found it difficult to really "understand" Bernlef's face. And studying this younger Bernlef gave me a better idea of his personality. In the caption underneath the drawing we read: "He put the smallest Leica in his pocket." That is unfortunate, because I drew a Kodak camera. I had no way of knowing which brand of camera Dick would carry, I didn't have much to go on. Just the publisher's marketing text, which only mentioned the main characters in the novel were a photographer and a painter.
Ja maar, alle goede fotografen hadden vroeger een Leica, dat weet ik zelfs.
My father used Kodak cameras all his life and he made the best photos on earth. Leica’s were for amateurs, he said. Once he gave me a Kodak F1, saying it was the best camera on earth. I lent it out to a friend for one night. That night someone broke into his house and stole the camera. I never dared to tell my father. Sometimes he would ask how I was doing with the F1. Good, I would mumble…