Doortje Smithuijsen - Golden Mountains

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Doortje Smithuijsen / Doortje Smithuijsen – Golden Mountains

Doortje Smithuijsen – Golden Mountains

Read our sample translation of Golden Mountains

About the book

Refusing judgement, Doortje Smithuijsen perceptively depicts a generation obsessed with its online image. Writing in a crystal clear tone, she paints a complete picture of several influencers, while also analysing the rapidly changing world in which we live: a world in which we conform to what advanced technology asks of us, and in which the digital world increasingly prevails over the analogue. For twelve months Smithuijsen followed various influencers in their daily lives. She wanted to know what hides behind the perfect images posted on Instagram. How does it feel to put your life in service of your online image? What is it like to tailor your behaviour to an algorithm? And what she really wanted to find out: why are these people so eager to manifest themselves digitally? And what does that say about her generation?

Excerpt From Golden Mountains:

‘Two hundred people, roughly between the ages of 20 and 35, all with their phones in hand. ‘Fuck,’ says one of the three boys next to me. ‘What was that hashtag again? Moëtform?’ ‘Moëtmoment,’ answer the other two in chorus, their gazes and mobiles not straying from the hologram on the lake. Everyone seems hypnotised by the projection, as if their devices were being drawn by some magnetic force towards the hologram (…) Some people mumble that it’s cold, others complain that it’s all taking too long. But nobody stops filming. And nobody says: how strange actually, that we’re all standing here in the cold, making videos of a hologram of a villa, while we’re all standing with our backs to the real thing.’

DOORTJE SMITHUIJSEN (b. 1992) studied philosophy and journalism. In her journalistic work she prefers to study modern people: who they are and how they live. She made a documentary called My Daughter the Vlogger, about the parents of children with their own YouTube channels. Together with Lena Bril, Smithuijsen also hosts the Monica Geuze Fan Podcast, about life in the age of social media. She has written for NRC Handelsblad and Vrij Nederland, among other publications. Golden Mountains is her first book.

Additional book information

Non-fiction
ISBN 9789403183909
Number of pages: 224
World rights: De Bezige Bij
Price: €19,99
English sample available