The Forbidden Kingdom

Book excerpt: A celebrated Danish novelist explores European history and colonization through the lives of two men separated by centuries—a shipwrecked wireless operator and an exiled Portuguese poet Slauerhoff’s The Forbidden Kingdom is a blend of historical chronicle, fiction and commentary, bringing together the seemingly unrelated lives of a twentieth century ship’s radio operator and the sixteenth century Portuguese poet-in-exile, Luis Camoes. Slauerhoff draws his reader into a dazzling world of exoticism, betrayal, and exile, where past and present merge and the possibility of death is never far away. Through a narrative that evolves into a critique of European history, culture, and colonialism, Slauerhoff speculates about the lessons to be learnt from history.