F. Springer (15 January 1932 – 7 November 2011) was the pseudonym of Carel Jan Schneider, a Dutch

foreign service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

diplomat and writer. Schneider was born in

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

. He spent

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 opposin ...

in a Japanese internment camp, and subsequently lived and worked in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Brussels,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

Luanda Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

(where he served as the penultimate ambassador), and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

all of which have served as locations for the novels and stories which he has published. His laconic style has been compared to that of

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

, and he often adopts an ironic perspective on his often tragic subject matter, such as in '' Teheran, een zwanezang'' ("Tehran, a swansong"), a love story set against the background of the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. Especially important in his work are the Dutch East Indies and the concept of ( id, tempo dulu) "Times Gone By", a nostalgia for life in the former Dutch colonies in the East. For '' Bougainville'' he received the

Ferdinand Bordewijk Ferdinand Bordewijk (10 October 1884 – 28 April 1965) was a Dutch author. His style, which is terse and symbolic, is considered to belong to New Objectivity and magic realism. He was awarded the P. C. Hooft Award in 1953 and the Constantijn ...

award in 1982 and was awarded the

Constantijn Huygens Prize The Constantijn Huygens Prize (Dutch: ''Constantijn Huygens-prijs'') is a Dutch literary award.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 of ...

Partial bibliography

*1962 – ''Bericht uit Hollandia'' (stories) *1969 – ''De gladde paal van macht. Een politieke legende'' (novel) *1974 – ''Tabee, New York'' (novel) *1977 – ''Zaken overzee'' (stories) *1981 – '' Bougainville. Een gedenkschrift'' (novel) *1985 – ''Quissama. Een relaas'' (novel) *1990 – ''Sterremeer. Een romance'' (novella) *1991 – '' Teheran, een zwanezang'' (novel) *1993 – ''Bandoeng-Bandung. Een novelle'' (novella) *1998 – ''Kandy. Een terugtocht'' (novel) *2001 – ''Verzameld werk'' (collected works) *2005 – ''Bangkok, een elegie'' (novel) *2010 – ''Quadriga'' (novel)

References

1932 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch diplomats Dutch male novelists People from Batavia, Dutch East Indies World War II civilian prisoners held by Japan Constantijn Huygens Prize winners Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize winners 20th-century Dutch male writers {{Netherlands-writer-stub