Marion Bloem (born 24 August 1952 in
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...
, the Netherlands) is a Dutch writer and film maker of
Indo
Indo may refer to:
* Indo-, a prefix indicating India or the Indian Subcontinent
* Indonesia, a country in Asia
** INDO LINES, callsign of Indonesian Airlines
** Indo people, people of mixed European and Indonesian ancestry
** Indo cuisine, fusion ...
(mixed Dutch and Indonesian) descent, best known as author of the literary acclaimed book ''Geen gewoon Indisch meisje'' (''No Ordinary Indo Girl'') and director of the 2008 feature film ''Ver van familie'' (''Far from Family'').
Bloem is a second generation Indo immigrant born into a family of four children. Her parents, Alexander and Jacqueline Bloem, repatriated from
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
in 1950. Her father is a survivor of the
Junyo Maru Junyo (sometimes written ''Dyunyo'') may refer to either of the Japanese ships:
*
* , a Japanese cargo ship that was sunk in 1944
{{italic title
Ship names ...
disaster. Bloem, herself a psychologist, is married to Dutch author and physician Ivan Wolffers. She has one son named Kaja and four grandchildren.
In addition to her career as an author and film director, Bloem is a painter who exhibits around Europe.
Books
Bloem's first short story was published in 1968, when she was only 16 years old. Bloem made her ''bona fide'' debut as a writer in 1976, with the book ''De overgang'' (''The Transition''). She continued to write several more books, including the children’s book ''Matabia'' in 1981, which received the 'Smelik Prize' from the ‘
International Board on Books for Young People The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland.
IBBY history
In 1952, Jella Lepm ...
’. In 1983 she published her literary acclaimed breakthrough novel ''Geen gewoon meisje'', which describes the duality and paradox of an Indo (Eurasian) girl, followed in 1989 by the novel ''Vaders van betekenis'', loosely translated to ''Noteworthy Fathers'', which describes the relationship of an Indo girl towards her Indo parents and Indo father in particular. She continues to write successful books, often around the topics of (Indo) identity and immigration. In 2009 she wrote ''Vervlochten grenzen'' (''Intertwined Borders'') about the triangular relationship between the
Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. For this book she received an '
E. du Perron Prize' nomination.
From the time that her husband was confronted with prostate cancer, she developed an interest in this subject and did research amongst couples who had to deal with this disease. The result ended up in the book ''Als je man verandert'' (''If Your Man Changes'') which she wrote together with the
urologist
Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...
P.Kil, published in 2010. Her latest novel is ''Meer dan mannelijk'' (''More than Male'') which is a natural consequence of this particular interest.
Her writing style is influenced by the Indo oral storytelling tradition and the pasar
Malay language.
Films
Bloem also produced a considerable number of movies and documentaries that have received several cultural awards and nominations. Her 1983 documentary ''Het land van mijn ouders'' (''Land of My Parents'') received both critical and commercial success. In 2008, her feature film ''Ver van familie'' (''Far from Family'') was released at the international film festival ‘Film by the Sea’ in
Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river ...
and the
Jakarta International Film Festival
Jakarta International Film Festival (Indonesian: ''Festival Film Internasional Jakarta'') or JiFFest is the major film festival of Indonesia held every December in the capital, Jakarta, since 1999. The festival is on a shaky financial footing a ...
. Based on her book of the same name, she wrote the screenplay and directed several Indo iconic actors including the famous singers
Anneke Grönloh and Riem de Wolff (Co-founder of the group the
Blue Diamonds
Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace amounts of boron that contaminate the crystalline la ...
). The movie is set in the United States and Netherlands of the mid-1980s and shows the trials and tribulations of an American Indo girl searching for her (family) roots.
Indo identity
Much of Bloem's work evolves around an artistic and sincere exploration of Indo identity and culture, which makes her one of the foremost 2nd generation Indo authors and puts her in the tradition of the legendary
Tjalie Robinson
Tjalie Robinson is the main alias of the Indo (Eurasian) intellectual and writer Jan Boon (born Nijmegen, 10 January 1911; died The Hague, 22 April 1974) also known as Vincent Mahieu. His father Cornelis Boon, a Royal Netherlands East Indies Arm ...
. Like Robinson who explored and benchmarked his
Eurasian
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Ja ...
identity from a global perspective, Bloem also puts her personal search for (Indo) identity in the broader perspective of immigration and integration.
''“Being Indo is just a metaphor for being different.”'' Marion Bloem, 1983.
Dutch Indies literature professor Pamela Pattynama argues:
''"...multi-talented Marion Bloem who takes a foremost position among the second generation Indo-Dutch authors, filmmakers and artists ..has brought an international perspective into her books that can no longer be defined as ‘novels’. ..Her protagonists have become transnational subjects who invent a home and shape identities through the creative re-writing of stories and myths about mixed race. ..I would like to suggest a diasporic, transnational or pluricentric perspective which may be more productive to understand Bloem’s work..."'' 'International Conference on Colonial and Post-Colonial Connections in Dutch Literature.' University of California, Berkeley, Website.
/ref>
Selected publications
* ''Overgang '' (1976) (non-fiction)
* ''Matabia'' (1981)
* ''Geen gewoon Indisch meisje'' (1983)
* ''Vaders van betekenis'' (1989)
* ''Vliegers onder het matras'' (1990)
* ''De honden van Slipi'' (1992)
* ''De leugen van de Kaketoe'' (1993) (Translated to English: ‘The cocketoo’s lie’)
* ''Muggen mensen olifanten'' (1995)
* ''Mooie meisjesmond'' (1997)
* ''Ver van familie'' (1998)
* ''Games4Girls'' (2001), (multimedia)
* ''Voor altijd moeder'' (2001)
* ''Liefde is soms lastig, liefste'', (2002), (multimedia cd with visual poetry)
* ''Thuis'' (2003), (stories, poems, diaries, drawings and paintings)
* ''Zo groot als Hugo'' (2004)
* ''De V van Venus'' (2004).
* ''Een royaal gebaar'' (2005)
* ''In de kamer van mijn vroeger'' (2007) (poetry and paintings)
* ''Vervlochten grenzen'' (2009)
* "Geen Requiem" (2010) (long poem)
* "Als je man verandert" (2010) (non-fiction)
* "Meer dan mannelijk" (2011)
See also
Other Indo authors
*
Louis Couperus
Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological and historical novels, novellas, short stories, fairy tales, feuilletons and s ...
(1863–1923)
*
Victor Ido
Victor Ido (8 February 1869, in Surabaya – 20 May 1948, in The Hague) is the main alias of the Indo people, Indo (Eurasian) Dutch language writer and journalist Hans van de Wall. Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (colonial Indonesia) from a Du ...
(1869-1948)
*
Ernest Douwes Dekker
Ernest François Eugène Douwes Dekker also known as '' Setyabudi'' or ''Setiabudi'' (8 October 1879 – 28 August 1950) was an Indonesian-Dutch nationalist and politician of Indo descent. He was related to the famous Dutch anti-colonialism wri ...
(1879–1950)
*
Edgar du Perron (1899–1940)
*
Beb Vuyk (1905–1991)
*
Rob Nieuwenhuys (1908–1999)
*
Tjalie Robinson
Tjalie Robinson is the main alias of the Indo (Eurasian) intellectual and writer Jan Boon (born Nijmegen, 10 January 1911; died The Hague, 22 April 1974) also known as Vincent Mahieu. His father Cornelis Boon, a Royal Netherlands East Indies Arm ...
(1911–1974)
*
Adriaan van Dis
Adriaan van Dis (Bergen aan Zee, 16 December 1946) is a Dutch author. He debuted in 1983 with the novella ''Nathan Sid''. In 1995 his book ''Indische Duinen'' (''My Father's War''), which in its narrative is a follow up to his debut novella, wa ...
(1946- )
*
Ernst Jansz (1948- )
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Rijnswou, Saskia van ''‘Marion Bloem’, in: Kritisch Lexicon van de Moderne Nederlandstalige Literatuur,'' (Martinus Nijhoff uitgevers, Groningen, nr.47, November 1992) P. 1-10.
* Loriaux, Stéphanie, ''‘Het laat haar niet los’, Marion Bloems zoektocht naar de Indische identiteit’'' In: Ons Erfdeel. (Year 43, Stichting Ons Erfdeel, Rekkem / Raamsdonkveer 2000) P.671-680
External links
Official website*
Digital library of Dutch literature*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloem, Marion
1952 births
Living people
20th-century Dutch novelists
20th-century Dutch women writers
21st-century Dutch novelists
21st-century Dutch women writers
Dutch people of Indonesian descent
Dutch women novelists
Indo people
International Writing Program alumni
Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau
People from Arnhem
Utrecht University alumni