说来奇怪,这部出自游记作家、小说家、诗人之手的作品当初在荷兰曾被委托给荷兰图书周的组织者,免费送给有空光顾书店的任何一位顾客。但译成英文后,却拥有了成千上万的读者,每个读过此书的英国读者,均被它优美的风格、内在的蕴涵及苦涩的幽默所打动,并且获得了欧洲小说大奖。据1994年10月16日美国《纽约时报书评》杂志介绍,这部作品不仅是一部欧洲小说,而且也是一部欧洲式寓言。主人公赫尔曼·马瑟在阿姆斯特丹公寓俭朴的单身宿舍床上睡觉,当时他神智非常清楚。但醒来之后却发现自己睡在了里斯本的一家旅馆,钱包里装的是葡币。20多年前,他曾和一位名叫玛丽亚的女子睡在那儿。玛丽亚是他同事的妻子,与 Strangely enough, the work by travel writers, novelists and poets was originally commissioned by Dutch organizers of the Dutch Book Week in the Netherlands for free delivery to any customer who has time to visit the Book Store. But after it was translated into English, it possesses thousands of readers. Every English reader who has read this book is impressed by its graceful style, intrinsic implication and bitter humor, and won the European Novel Award. According to the New York Times Book Review magazine on October 16, 1994, the work is not only a European novel, but also a European-style allegory. Hermione, the hero, slept on a fringe bed in a dorm in a Amsterdam apartment, when he was very clever. But woke up but found himself sleeping in a hotel in Lisbon, wallet is a Portuguese coin. More than 20 years ago he slept there with a woman named Maria. Maria is the wife of his colleague, with