Anna Maria van Gogh-Kaulbach (31 December 1869 – 28 January 1960) was a Dutch writer and translator. She published a number of works under the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s Wilhelmina Reynbach, Erna, Mac Peter and Wata.

Biography

The daughter of Frans Ludwig Eduard Kaulbach, a physician, and Helena Maria Cornelia van Reijn, she was born Anna Maria Kaulbachin Velsen. Her parents had six other children who all died shortly after birth. When she was two, her mother became blind. She attended a primary girls' school in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

and a girls' Hogere Burgerschool in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. In 1892, she published her first story in ''

Elsevier's Geïllustreerd Maandschrift ''Elsevier Weekblad'', abbreviated to ''EW'', still known as ''Elsevier'', is a Dutch weekly news magazine. With a circulation of over 68,000 copies as of 2018, it is the Netherlands' most popular news magazine. Its chief editor is Arendo Joustra ...

''. In the same year, she met her future husband Willem Jacob van Gogh, a bulb grower who was a cousin of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

. In 1894, the couple joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party. In the same year, she published her first novel ''Albert Overberg'' under the pseudonym Wilhelmina Reynbach'; she published a second novel ''Otto van Lansveldt'' under the same name in the following year. Besides novels and stories, she also published plays, children's stories and travelogues. In 1899, she married Wlllem van Gogh; the couple had two daughters and three sons. They lived in Lisse and then

Sassenheim Sassenheim () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The former municipality covered an area of 6.62 km² (of which 0.23 km² water) and had a population of 14,906 in 2005. Since ...

. After 1906, they lived in Haarlem. From 1919 to 1924, they lived in Arnhem; in 1924, they moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Her husband died in 1934 and she spent two years in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

in 1937. Van Gogh-Kaulbach translated works by a number of authors, including Honoré de Balzac,

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

and

Neel Doff Cornelia Hubertina "Neel" Doff ( Buggenum, Netherlands, 27 January 1858 – Ixelles, Belgium, 14 July 1942) was an author of Dutch origin living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French. She is one of the most important contributors ...

. She also wrote and translated radio plays. From 1910 to 1915, she was editor of ''Weekblad voor de jeugd'', from 1915 to 1918, she was editor of ''Scheurkalender Morgengroeten'' and, from 1927 to 1931, she was editor for ''Letterkundige Kalender''. She also wrote theatre reviews for '' Haarlems Dagblad'' and contributed articles to the ''Dames-Kroniek''. She was a supporter of women's

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

and

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. Her later works take on the themes of motherhood and family life. She was honorary president of the Dutch women's organization . A

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

, she was a member of the Nederlandse Vredesraad. She died in Haarlem at the age of 90.

Selected works

* ''Rika'', novel (1905) * ''Eigen haard'', play (1910) * ''De sterkste'', novel (1913) * ''Opgang. De roman van een vrouwenleven'', novel (1914) * ''Binnen de muren'', two volumes (1915) * ''Jet-Lie'', novel (1917) * ''Lenie ter Heuvel'', youth literature, 3 volumes (1920-1922) * ''Het brandende hart'', novel (1928) * ''Zomerland'', novel (1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gogh-Kaulbach, Anna van 1869 births 1960 deaths Dutch women novelists Dutch women short story writers 20th-century Dutch short story writers Dutch women dramatists and playwrights Dutch translators Dutch suffragists Dutch pacifists 20th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers