The Leipzig Book Fair is the second-largest business-literary event on the European continent. Every year, it features the literature of one country – or language group –  as a special guest. This year, Dutch-language literature was highlighted. This really did whet my curiosity: Were there literary classics of world significance from the Netherlands, which were completely unknown to me, waiting to be discovered?  The Netherlands is well-known for painting – the Dutch masters and modernists such as Vincent Van Gogh instantly spring to mind – but less so for its literature. I knew no author from the Netherlands or writing…