Books

Authors

Directory of Translators

Grants Awarded

Grants

Discover

About the Foundation

Catalogues

Contact

An overview of recent highlights, by genre

Discover authors, by genre

Download publications here

Books & Authors

Find a translator in database of accredited literary translators.

How to get accredited as a literary translator

Sign Up as a Translator

Translators

Translation Database

Discover who we are and what we do

Frequently Asked Questions

Discover everything the Dutch Foundation for Literature is organizing

Programs

An overview of recently awarded translation grants

Departments and staff

Get in touch

Subscribe to our newsletter

Newsletter

Sanne Bloemink

In 2010, Sanne Bloemink made an unfortunate move during kickbox training. Since then, the slightest movement of her leg has caused shooting pains that ‘seem to split her body like a lightning strike in an ancient oak tree’. Scans showed a herniated disc pinching a major nerve pathway, but because eighty per cent of herniated discs resolve themselves, the neurosurgeon decided not to operate. Years of medications, exercises, treatments, hopes and setbacks followed.After five years, Bloemink went for an operation. Her hernia was finally cured. But the pain hammered on undisturbed, and with it, any hope of a pain-free existence was gone. Doctors suggested an overloaded nervous system, psychological stress – nothing helped. In her search for a solution, the author connects her own experiences with perspectives on pain from medicine, philosophy, literature and history.She takes the reader back to the Middle Ages, draws on Greek mythology, explores what new technologies can mean for pain management, and what the works of Susan Sontag and Marina Abramović, among others, can teach us. She concludes that chronic pain is a combination of physical, psychological and social factors that patients cannot easily influence themselves.<ul><li>In the vein of Susan Sontag’s On Illness as a Metaphor</li><li>One in five people suffers from chronic pain</li><li>Combines history, philosophy, literature and personal experience</li></ul>Year of publication 2023Page count 288Publisher PluimRights Stella Rieck <a href="mailto:rieck@cossee.com">rieck@cossee.com</a> Sample translation available

A personal account, an investigation into the science of pain, a glimpse into the past, a philosophical essay and a medical-ethical appeal all in one. Too much for one book, you might think. A whirlwind of ambitions, styles and layers: hold your breath. But it works. The result is overwhelming, almost suffocating, and ultimately very impressive.

Engaging, entertaining and written with humour. You learn a lot from it.

More Non-Fiction

Book

Non-Fiction

A palliative investigation into the meaning(lessness) of chronic pain

Asset

Assets

Pijn. Een expeditie naar onbestemd gebied

Pain causes a lot of suffering and comes with a huge price tag, yet it remains under-reported. Words often fail us. We try to measure it on a scale of 1 to 10, but have no idea what those numbers mean. Can we ever know what someone else’s pain feels like?

Pain — An Expedition Into Uncharted Territory

More Sanne Bloemink

Author

Privacy statement

post@letterenfonds.nl