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 The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, wh ...

and magic realism. He was awarded the

P. C. Hooft Award The P.C. Hooft Award (in Dutch: P.C. Hooft-prijs), inaugurated in 1948, is a Dutch-language literary lifetime-achievement award named after 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. The award is made annually. Background E ...

in 1953 and the

Constantijn Huygens Prize The Constantijn Huygens Prize (Dutch: ''Constantijn Huygens-prijs'') is a Dutch literary award.Character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

'' (1997), an Academy Award-winning film directed by

Mike van Diem Mike van Diem (born 1959, in Druten, grew up in Sittard) is a Dutch film director. In 1990, his short film ''Alaska'' won a Golden Calf for best short film and the Student Academy Award for best foreign student film in the drama category. In 19 ...

, was based on his novel of the same name (1938).

Biography

Ferdinand Bordewijk was born in

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 ...

, Netherlands, and moved to

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 o ...

when he was ten years old. He studied law at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city o ...

. After graduation, he worked first at a

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

law firm and became an independent lawyer in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the villa ...

in 1919, remaining an inhabitant of The Hague all of his life. He was married to the composer Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman. He wrote the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

for her opera ''Rotonde'' (1941).

Works

His first published work was a volume of poetry titled ' (Mushrooms) under the pseudonym Ton Ven. It was not particularly well received. His breakthrough came with the short novels ' (Blocks, 1931), ' (Growling Animals, 1933) and ''Bint'' (1934), and two longer works: ' (Red Palace, 1936) and ' ("Character", 1938, in English 1966). ' was a

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n work which was perceived as a criticism of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

. It is comparable to

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

's ''Brave New World'', which appeared one year later and which Bordewijk deemed to be junk ("").

Bibliography

*1916 – ' (under the pseudonym Ton Ven) *1918 – ' (A king of the phrase) in: Groot Nederland *1919 – (Fantastic tales), short stories *1923 – (Fantastic tales II), short stories *1924 – (Fantastic tales III), short stories *1931 – ' (Cubes), novel *1933 – (novel) *1934 – (novel) *1935 – (The last honor, eulogy) *1935 – *1936 – (Red palace, downfall of the century) *1936 – *1937 – (short stories) *1938 – (novel); English translation: ''Character'', from Dutch by E. M. Prince; London, Peter Owen, 1966, etc. Filmed as 1997 Dutch/Belgian film, directed by Mike van Diem. *1940 – *1940 – (Three plays) *1941 – ''Apollyon'' *1946 – (Oaks of Dodona) *1946 – *1947 – (By gaslight) *1947 – (Five fantastic tales) *1948 – *1948 – (Plato's death, symphonic poem) *1948 – (opera) *1949 – '', Bint'' (Cubes, grunting animals, Bint), compilation *1949 – *1949 – *1949 – *1950 – (Tales from the other side) *1951 – *1951 – *1952 – *1954 – *1954 – (Misses and mister Richebois; twenty short stories) *1955 – (compendium) *1955 – *1955 – *1956 – *1956 – (play) *1956 – (Ten stories) *1957 – (Idem; ten parodies) *1958 – *1959 – (The gypsies; twelve short stories and a sketch) *1960 – (Centre of silence; five stories) *1961 – (Faraway tidings) *1961 – (under the pseudonym Ton Ven) *1964 – (Spring, seven stories) *1964 – (under the pseudonym Ton Ven) *1965 – *1981 – *1982 – (Seven fantastic tales) *1982–1991 – (Complete works, thirteen parts) *1983 – (Five little stories)

Biography

Works

Bibliography

References

See also