Author

Gerard Reve

Gerard Reve’s (1923-2006) most widely read book is his first novel De avonden (The Evenings, 1947). The much reprinted and controversial epistolary books Op weg naar het einde (On My Way to the End, 1963) and Nader tot U (Nearer to Thee, 1966), in which Reve opened his heart about his homosexuality and his conversion to Catholicism, were instrumental in establishing the author as a public figure in the Netherlands. Over the years he published a large series of autobiographical epistolary books, and several novels: Oud en eenzaam (Old and Lonely, 1978), Moeder en Zoon (Mother and Son, 1980), Bezorgde Ouders (Parents Worry, 1989). Reve was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize in 1968 and the Dutch Literature Prize (Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren) in 2001.

The Book Of Violet And Death

The Book Of Violet And Death

This novel’s remarkable title – derived from an old handbook for neurotics which was the constant companion of Reve’s youth – has been known to aficionados of the author’s work for a good thirty years. After all, it was Reve himself who announced in his renowned autobiographical books in the sixties that he would one day write a book called Het Boek Van Violet En Dood that would render all other books superfluous, with the exception of the Bible and the telephone book.

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The Evenings

The Evenings

When the novel De avonden first appeared, Reve was hailed as ‘the voice of a generation’. Since then the book has become a modern classic, continuing to appeal to each succeeding generation. The book revolves around Frits van Egters, twenty-three years old and with a boring office job. The ten chapters depict the last ten days of the year Frits spends with his family, office colleagues and friends.

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Parents Worry

Parents Worry

The last name of the main character in Bezorgde ouders ‘Treger resembles both Reve and Egters and this is not the only similarity between his first and his latest novels. There is a similar delineation of time and action in both. Bezorgde ouders is the tragi-comic story of a single day in the life of Treger, a singer and poet from Amsterdam, who just cannot seem to produce that poem which will lead to total deliverance. His incapacity is told in exorcising mumblings where once again religion, homosexuality and the temporary easing of bouts of depression through wine play a major role.

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On My Way to the End

On My Way to the End

In the 1960s Gerard Reve’s career entered a new phase when he discovered that the letter was his ideal literary form. It allowed him to adopt a direct, confrontational tone, combined with formal, almost solemn, syntax and vocabulary. Reve wrote openly and in great detail about his alcoholism, his homosexuality, his preoccupation with death and his adoration of God and the Virgin Mary. As the main character of his letters, he described his life with remarkable candour, contributing to his own legend in the process. In a 1998 interview he said, ‘I’m a Great Writer, but it’s not as if I’m not stuck up about it.’

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Translated books

Photo: Klaas Koppe

Website

http://www.nadertotreve.nl/

Authors and translators Writers