The One Unforgivable Transgression?
In terms of economic capital, Kluun is one of the most successful Dutch authors of the last two decades. To date, at least a million copies of his debut novel Komt een vrouw bij de dokter have been sold; the book has been translated into 26 languages. His later novels were less successful, but were still sold in considerable numbers. The reason why the ‘Kluuncase’ is remarkable is twofold. Firstly, Kluun is the former owner of an Amsterdam advertising firm, and considered his first novel not only an artistic product but an advertising venture as well; secondly, Kluun consciously played with the gap between his economic success and the the amount of symbolic capital he accrued, and used the branding of his name and work as a literary strategy.