Cornelis "Kees" Buddingh' (7 August 1918 – 24 November 1985) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, TV-presenter,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. Amongst others he translated ''A Clockwork Orange'' and the complete works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

into

. His son Wiebe Buddingh‘ later became the translator of Harry Potter into the Dutch language. The C. Buddingh'-prijs literary award is named after him.

Biography

Kees Buddingh’ was born on 7 August 1918 in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

. He went to the HBS from 1930 to 1935 and in 1938 he received his grade of MO-A in English in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. He was in military service from 1938 to 1940, until he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. For that illness, he was treated for several years. After several publications in the prewar literary magazines "Den Gulden Winckel" and "Criterium", Buddingh' debuted with his collection "Het geïrriteerde lied" (1941). These publications of

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

poems were illegal, due to the German occupation of the Netherlands in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1944, a little under-the-counter book was clandestinely published, a series of erotic quatrains titled ''Praeter gallum cantat''. Also his translations of four poems by

W.H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

were issued clandestinely. While in the sanitarium for his tuberculosis, he wrote his famous "gorgelrijmen", of which "De blauwbilgorgel" (1943) is the most famous. This particular poem was inspired by an English children’s novel titled ''The Bluebillgurgle'' by

E. Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

. He published the "gorgelrijmen" in many different editions, among which "10 gorgelrijmen", an illustrated collection of which only ten copies were printed in 1954. He also worked for "Gard Sivik" and "Barbarber", two Dutch magazines. Later in his life, Buddingh’ was a literary critic and a translator. He translated many English books into Dutch, including ''

The Forsyte Saga ''The Forsyte Saga'', first published under that title in 1922, is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vici ...

'' by John Galsworthy and ''A Clockwork Orange'', together with his son Wiebe. Together with the cartoonist Otto Dicke he created the newspaper comics ''Spekkie en Blekkie'' (1955-1965) and ''Jesje en Josje'', for which he wrote the scripts. Throughout his life, Buddingh' felt a strong connection to his native town of Dordrecht and the city features in many of his works including the poem "Ode aan Dordrecht". In 1975 he wrote the "Boekenweekgeschenk". Buddingh' published a translation of a volume of poetry by D.J. Enright, "Paradise Illustrated", in 1982. He had a part-time job at the institute for translation studies at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. Buddingh' also was the chairman of the publishing company

De Bezige Bij De Bezige Bij ("the busy bee") is one of the most important literary publishing companies in the Netherlands. History The company was founded illegally in 1943, during the German occupation of the Netherlands by ; its first publication was a poe ...

and was granted an

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of Dordrecht on his 60th birthday.

Personal life

In 1950 he married Christina "Stientje" van Vuren. They had two sons, Sacha and Wiebe. Cees Buddingh’ died while recovering from an operation on 24 November 1985.

Sources

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddingh, C. 1918 births 1985 deaths Dutch male poets Dutch comics writers Dutch literary critics Dutch translators Dutch television presenters People from Dordrecht 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century translators