Jan Willem Lincoln "Janwillem" van de Wetering (February 12, 1931 – July 4, 2008) was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch.

Biography

Van de Wetering was born and raised in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, but in later years he lived in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Japan,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Colombia,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, Australia,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and most recently in Surry, Maine, the setting of two of his Grijpstra and de Gier novels and his children's series about the porcupine Hugh Pine. Van de Wetering studied Zen under the guidance of Oda Sessō, together with Walter Nowick, at

Daitoku-ji is a Buddhist temple, one of fourteen autonomous branches of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. It is located in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The "mountain name" ('' sangō'') by which it is known is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex today covers more ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

. Van de Wetering lived a year in Daitoku-ji and half a year with Nowick outside the temple, and described his experiences in his book ''The Empty Mirror''. The book includes an account of a visit to the monastery by

Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle Hugo Makibi Enomiya-Lassalle (11 November 1898 in Gut Externbrock near Nieheim, Westphalia – 7 July 1990 in Münster, Westphalia) was a German Jesuit priest and one of the foremost teachers to embrace both Roman Catholic Christianity and Zen ...

, describing his own mixed thoughts about this representative of what he deemed an old-fashioned religion. Sōkō Morinaga, Walter Nowick's Dharma brother, wrote in ''Novice to Master'' about traditional practices at that time. Van de Wettering also encountered American poet and author Gary Snyder (referred to in ''The Empty Mirror'' as "Gerald") during his time at Daitoku-ji. Snyder was also studying under abbot Oda Sesso Roshi at that time. His many travels, and his experiences in a

Zen Buddhist Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

monastery and as a member of the Amsterdam Reserve Constabulary ("being a policeman in one's spare time" as he phrased it in his introduction to ''Outsider in Amsterdam'') lend some authenticity to his works of fiction and non-fiction. Van de Wetering was awarded the French

Grand Prix de Littérature Policière The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (or the Police Literature Grand Prize) is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in ...

in 1984 for his novel ''Maine Massacre''. He died in

Blue Hill, Maine Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2020 census. It is home to the Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the Blue Hill Harbor School, The Bay Sch ...

Bibliography

Janwillem van de Wetering was particularly noted for his detective fiction, his most popular creations being

Grijpstra and de Gier Jan Willem Lincoln "Janwillem" van de Wetering (February 12, 1931 – July 4, 2008) was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. Biography Van de Wetering was born and raised in Rotterdam, but in later years he lived in South Africa ...

, a pair of

police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novels and

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

. Most of the mysteries are rich with images from Amsterdam, where most of them take place; some also feature a cat: in earlier novels, one named Oliver; in later novels, a female named Tabriz. He also wrote stories for children and nonfiction works. He usually wrote in Dutch and then in English; the two versions often differ considerably.

Grijpstra and de Gier novels

Adjutant-Detective Henk Grijpstra and Detective-Sergeant Rinus de Gier, along with their never-named elderly superior, the Commissaris, are the most popular creations of Janwillem van de Wetering. They are police detectives in the Murder Brigade of the

Municipal Police, and are featured in fourteen

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

s and several

published in ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

'' and ''

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine'' (AHMM) is a bi-monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime and detective fiction. ''AHMM'' is named for Alfred Hitchcock, the famed director of suspense films and television. History ''AHM ...

''. Grijpstra, heavy, middle-aged, and less than happily married, is the senior partner of the duo. Though he was raised in Amsterdam, he is a Frisian (from Friesland, a northern area of the Netherlands) born in the port city of Harlingen. In his youth he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician or a painter. When a set of drums mysteriously appeared in police headquarters he appropriated them. De Gier, a younger man with deep brown eyes and curly hair, and most-often sporting a tasteful denim suit, is single, handsome, and very successful with women. He is an avowed bachelor and dedicated to his cats. He is a dreamer and a deep thinker, often pondering aloud on "the void," Zen, and life. A native of

, de Gier is, like Grijpstra, an amateur musician. He often carries a small flute, and in odd moments he and Grijpstra improvise together in their office, where Grijpstra has his set of drums. The Commissaris, small, elderly, and often nearly incapacitated by chronic rheumatism, supervises the partners' field investigations. Intelligent and broadly experienced, he often provides key insights into his juniors' cases, as well as philosophical commentary. A Frisian like Grijpstra, the Commissaris is fond of jenever and small cigars. Only his first name, Jan, is ever mentioned. Grijpstra, de Gier, and the Commissaris first appeared in the novel ''Outsider in Amsterdam''. The novels (in both publishing order and internal chronological order) are: #''Outsider in Amsterdam'' (1975) #''Tumbleweed'' (1976) #''The Corpse on the Dike'' (1976) #''Death of a Hawker'' (1977) #''The Japanese Corpse'' (1977) #''The Blond Baboon'' (1978) #''The Maine Massacre'' (1979) #''The Mind-Murders'' (1981) #''The Streetbird'' (1983) #''The Rattle-Rat'' (1985) #''Hard Rain'' (1986) #''Just a Corpse at Twilight'' (1994) #''The Hollow-Eyed Angel'' (1996) #''The Perfidious Parrot'' (1997) A complete anthology of short stories, ''The Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories'', was published in 1999, replacing two earlier anthologies, ''The Sergeant's Cat and Other Stories'' and ''The Amsterdam Cops and Other Stories''. (The latter has also been published, confusingly, under the title ''The Sergeant's Cat'', with some stories taken from the earlier collection of that title.)

Children's books

* ''Little Owl'', 1978 * ''Hugh Pine'', 1980 * ''Hugh Pine and the Good Place'', 1981 * ''Hugh Pine and Something Else'', 1983 * ''Eugen Eule und der Fall des verschwundenen Flohs'', 2001

Other fiction

* ''The Butterfly Hunter'', 1982 * ''Bliss and Bluster'', 1982 * ''Inspector Saito's Small Satori'', 1985 (collection) * ''Murder by Remote Control'', 1986 (graphic novel, with Paul Kirchner) * ''Seesaw Millions'', 1988 * ''Mangrove Mama and Other Tropical Tales of Terror'', 1995 (anthology) * ''Judge Dee Plays His Lute: A Play and Selected Mystery Stories'', 1997 (anthology; includes the original play ''Judge Dee Plays his Lute'' and a selection of uncollected short stories) * ''Die entartete Seezunge'', 2004 (inspired by the World War 2 bombing of Rotterdam and the 9/11 disaster in NYC) (a novel in German, appeared as an article in Dutch)

Non-fiction

* ''The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery'', 1971 * ''A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community'', 1975 * ''De doosjesvuller en andere vondsten'' (The boxfiller and other findings), 1984 (essays in Dutch) * ''Waar zijn we aan begonnen?'' (What have we started?), 1985 (essays in Dutch on the stages of life with the psychologist Hans van Rappard) * ''Robert Van Gulik: His Life, His Work'', 1988 * ''Afterzen: Experiences of a Zen Student out on His Ear'', 1999

Articles/stories not included in books

* "Astral Bodies and Tantric Sex."

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, January 10, 1988. (review of a two-volume biography of Alexandra David-Néel) * "The Way Life Should Be - Maine: coastline on a clean, cold sea."

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

, September 1, 2003.

Translations

* Alexandra David-Néel and Lama Yongden: ''The Power of Nothingness.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982 (French to English, with an introduction by the translator) *Van de Wetering translated many books from English to Dutch and two books from French to Dutch.

Filmography

* ''

Grijpstra & De Gier ''Grijpstra & De Gier'' is a 1979 Dutch crime film directed by Wim Verstappen. It is based on the eponymous novel series by Jan Willem van de Wetering (although his name is usually styled Janwillem van de Wetering), specifically ''Het lijk in d ...

'' (Netherlands, 1979), based on the novel ''Outsider in Amsterdam'', script by

Wim Verstappen Wim Verstappen (4 May 1937 – 24 July 2004) was a Dutch film director and producer, television director, and screen writer. Verstappen grew up in Curaçao. He began studies at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in 1961, and released hi ...

* ''Rattlerat'' (Netherlands, 1987), script by Wim Verstappen * ''Der blonde Affe'' (Germany, 1999), based on the novel ''The Blond Baboon''

Television

* A TV series based on the Grijpstra and de Gier characters started airing on Dutch TV in 2004, 30 episodes are made, another 15 are ordered. Roef Ragas and Jack Wouterse play youthful versions of de Gier and Grijpstra. * CBS aired a TV special featuring the original Hugh Pine novel ('' CBS Storybreak, Storybreak'' #12).

Radio

* Van de Wetering wrote 4 radio plays for German TV, again based on the Grijpstra and de Gier series. The plays were aired during the early nineties. Among these is ''Das Koan'' (1994), based on Van de Wetering's biography of Robert van Gulik, creator of the

Judge Dee Judge Dee, or Judge Di, is a semi-fictional character based on the historical figure Di Renjie, county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. The character appeared in the 18th-century Chinese detective and '' gong'an'' crime novel ''Di Gong ...

series. The English version, ''Judge Dee Plays His Lute'', was included in the anthology with the same name.

References

External links

Obituary of Janwillem van de Wetering
in the Guardian

Buddhist Network Television Interview with Janwillem van de Wetering
in Dutch

Biography (until 1997) and photos at Dunn and Powell Books] {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetering, Janwillem Van De 1931 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American essayists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American translators 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers 20th-century Dutch novelists 21st-century Dutch writers American children's writers American male novelists American mystery writers American people of Frisian descent Dutch children's writers Dutch essayists Dutch emigrants to the United States Dutch mystery writers Dutch police officers Dutch translators Nyenrode Business University alumni Writers from Rotterdam Dutch thriller writers English–Dutch translators French–Dutch translators French–English translators Novelists from Maine Dutch crime fiction writers American male essayists People from Surry, Maine Dutch male novelists Zen Buddhism writers