Beyond Sleep is a modern classic of European fiction, a hilarious and captivating story set beyond the edge of the civilized word, as one man approaches a breaking point. The young Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf is determined to win fame for making a great discovery. To this end he joins a small geological expedition, which travels to the far North of Norway, where he hopes to prove a series of craters were caused by meteorites, but ultimately realizes he's more likely to drown in a fjord or be eaten by parasites. Unable to procure crucial aerial photographs, and beset by mosquitoes and insomnia in his freezing leaky tent, Alfred becomes increasingly desperate and paranoid. Haunted by the ghost of his scientist father, unable to escape the looming influence of his mother, and anxious to complete the thesis that will make his name, he moves toward the final act of vanity which will trigger a catastrophe. A deadpan comedy often subtly calling up the works of Heller or Vonnegut at their best, Beyond Sleep is a unique and illuminating examination of how hard it is to be a true pioneer in the modern world. Beyond Sleep is a masterpiece.

威廉•弗雷德裏剋•赫爾曼斯 (1921—1995) ，荷蘭著名作傢，與哈裏•穆裏施、傑拉德•裏夫一起被譽為戰後“荷蘭文學三巨頭”。

1921年齣生於阿姆斯特丹，在成為格羅寜根大學講師之前長期研習自然地理，1973年移居巴黎。其作品以不事雕琢的冷峻風格而聞名，涵蓋小說、戲劇、詩歌、散文及哲學和科學論著等多種類型。代錶作有小說《達摩剋利斯的暗室》、《難以入眠》等。