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

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, 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 ''trans ...

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

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

into the Dutch language. The

C. Buddingh'-prijs The C. Buddingh'-prijs (Dutch for C. Buddingh' Prize) is an annual literary award for the best debut poetry collection in Dutch. The award is given by Poetry International Web, Poetry International and is named after Dutch poet C. Buddingh'. The ...

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 List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

. 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 ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

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

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1944, a little under-the-counter book was clandestinely published, a series of erotic

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

s titled ''Praeter gallum cantat''. Also his translations of four poems by W.H. Auden 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. 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 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature. They chronicle th ...

'' by

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...

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, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. 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 po ...

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 honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of Dordrecht on his 60th birthday.

Personal life

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

Sources

External links

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