Language: Dutch. English: here. German: hier.

The expectations are high when language professor Philipp Perlmann has to lead an international congress in Italy. It will be the crown on his glorious career, which brought him to the highest ranks of his field of research. However, no conference guest has a notion of the doubt and inability that crossed Perlmann's life after the death of his wife. He has lost his belief in science, the academic world and, above all, himself. To cover his inabilities, he jumps from one lie to another. When his lecture is due, he knows he has nothing to say.

Mercier published this novel long before his breakthrough Night Train to Lisbon. Like his bestseller, Perlmanns Schweigen is a highly philosophical and psychological account of an individual who is facing an enormous task, laid upon himself. Nice material, although, I must say, Night Train triggered me more.