“After reading this book, you will have a better understanding of how hares run across the continent. Moreover, it hooks into larger debates on international governance and relations between countries on a global scale.” - NRC Handelsblad
“Hunter in the Forest is a fascinating examination of the prejudiced ways in which Germany and France have represented each other in art and literature over the past two centuries.” - Knack
“An important book.” - Cees Noteboom (author)
“Maarten Doorman wrote an erudite book full of striking anecdotes about the relationship between French and Germans in terms of their arts." - de Volkskrant
In the turbulent post-Brexit era with military agitation rising in Eastern Europe, all eyes are once more on the French-German axis.
Can these countries give new direction to the future of the European continent? And will they finally manage to bridge the gulf they have inherited from their shared past?
Four wars have left deep scars, and even if the Erbfeindschaft between the two countries has fully evaporated ever since the last world war, history shows that national prejudices and clichés tend to run deeper than we are inclined to believe and would hope for.
Embarking on a journey of music, visual arts, film, and literature, Hunter in the Forest guides the reader through a painful history of large-scale armed conflict. From the French-German War (1870-1871) and the proclamation of the German empire in Versailles, back to Napoleonic times and the German wars of liberation, and then from the trenches of La Grande Guerre to the total catastrophe of World War II, Maarten Doorman explores France’s and Germany’s position in the unpredictable future of Europe.