Willem Philippe Maria "Wim" Zaal (14 August 1935,

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 ...

- 11 October 2021,

Muiden Muiden () is a city and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht and is in an area called the Vechtstreek. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Mere ...

) was a Dutch journalist, essayist, translator and literary critic. He was literary editor of ''

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

'' for years. He has edited anthologies from the works of many authors, including

Joost van den Vondel Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch poet, writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still mos ...

. He translated works by the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

writer

Neel Doff Cornelia Hubertina "Neel" Doff ( Buggenum, Netherlands, 27 January 1858 – Ixelles, Belgium, 14 July 1942) was an author of Dutch origin living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French. She is one of the most important contributors ...

from French into Dutch and also translated the memoirs of King

Louis Bonaparte Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French cl ...

in 1983. Zaal also wrote a few books about

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, a country that has always fascinated him. In 2001,

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husba ...

awarded him the Honorary Cross of the

Order of the House of Orange The Order of the House of Orange (Dutch: ''Huisorde van Oranje''), sometimes referred to as the House Order of Orange, is a dynastic order of the House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family of the Netherlands similar to the Royal Victorian Order in ...

Works

*''Vloekjes bij de thee: Een reportage over de 19de eeuw in Nederland'', J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1961. Re-issued in 1993 by Goossens, Rijswijk *''Zó ben ik nu eenmaal: Nederlanders schrijven over zichzelf in dagboeken, autobiografieën en brieven'',

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, Amsterdam, 1962 *''Aan de rol met Sisyfus: Divagatiën en consideratiën'', Wereldbibliotheek, Amsterdam, 1964 *''De Herstellers: Lotgevallen van de Nederlandse fascisten'', Ambo, Utrecht, 1966 *''Nooit van gehoord: Stiefkinderen van de Nederlandse beschaving'', Ambo, Utrecht, 1969. Re-issued in 1974 by

De Arbeiderspers De Arbeiderspers is a Dutch publishing company, started as a socialist enterprise. The name means 'The Workers' Press'. History The company was started in 1929 as a combination of the publishing firm N.V. Ontwikkeling and the Dutch Social Dem ...

, Amsterdam *''Geliefde Gedichten die iedereen kent maar niet kan vinden'',

, Amsterdam, 1972 *''Gods onkruid: Nederlandse sekten en messiassen'', J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1972. Re-issued in 1985 by Kruseman, The Hague, and in 2004 by Aspekt, Soesterberg *''De Nederlandse fascisten'', Wetenschappelijke Uitgeverij, Amsterdam, 1973 *''Geheime Gedichten: Die Niemand Kent Maar Die Toch Gezien Mogen Worden'',

, Amsterdam, 1974 *''Zoek het koninkrijk: Heiligenlevens voor niet-gelovigen verteld'', J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1976 *''Rome: Gids om Rome lief te hebben'', J.H. Gottmer, Haarlem, 1977. *''De heiligen: Erflaters van Europa'', Ambo, Baarn, 1982 *''Flip van der Burgt: 1927-1977'', Stichting Vrienden van Flip van der Burgt, Amsterdam, 1984 *''Voorlopige uitslag'', De Oude Degel, Eemnes, 1985 *''Rome'', Terra, Zutphen, 1985 *''Vlak bij Vlaanderen: Een Hollander over het zuiden'', Manteau, Antwerpen/Amsterdam, 1986 *''Verhalen van man tot man'', Goossens, Tricht, 1987 *''Een tik van Italië: Reisverhalen'', Amber, Amsterdam, 1991. Re-issued in 2001 by Aspekt, Soesterberg *''De verlakkers'', Amber, Amsterdam, 1991. Re-issued in 2009 as ''Valsheid in geschriften'' *''Roma magica: Mysteries en mirakelen van de eeuwige stad'', Conserve, Schoorl, 1993 *''Onnozele kinderen: Lodewijk XVII, Victor van Aveyron, Kaspar Hauser'',

, Amsterdam, 1995 *''De buitenbeentjes: 36 schrijvers die ik heb gekend'', Aspekt, Nieuwegein, 1995 *''De vuist van de paus: De Nederlandse zouaven in Italië, 1860-1870'', Aspekt, Nieuwegein, 1996 *''De eeuwige belofte van Eldorado'', Aspekt, Nieuwegein, 1996 *''Rust in Rome: Wandelen langs dodenakkers, grafkerken, catacomben, mausolea en andere plaatsen van eeuwige rust'', Elmar, Rijswijk, 1999 *''Bar en boos: De slechtste gedichten in de Nederlandse taal'', Prometheus, Amsterdam, 2001 *''Zestig jaar in de beschaving'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2002 *''Engelenzang en andere gedichten'', De Beuk, Amsterdam, 2003 *''Rome: een religieuze gids'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2004 *''Alle heiligen: Heiligenkalender voor Nederland en Vlaanderen'', Elmar, Rijswijk, 2004 *''Moord in het Vaticaan: De mooiste verhalen over Rome'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2006 *''Een leeuw is eigenlijk iemand: Nederlandstalige dierenpoëzie'', J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 2006 *''God en Zoon: Wat iedereen moet weten over bijbel, christendom en kerkelijke feesten'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2007 *''Kaspar Hauser'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2008 *''De 100 leukste dierengedichten'', J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 2009 *''Valsheid in geschriften: Literaire vervalsingen en mystificaties'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2009 (re-issue of ''De verlakkers'') *''Jan Toorop: Zijn leven, zijn werk, zijn tijd'', Aspekt, Soesterberg, 2010

References

External links

Wim Zaal at www.uitgeverijaspekt.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaal, Wim 1935 births Living people Dutch journalists Dutch translators Dutch essayists Dutch literary critics Writers from Amsterdam