Jan Wolkers
Jan Wolkers (1925-2007) grew up in a large Calvinist family. After studying at the end of the war at art schools in The Hague and Amsterdam, he worked for a year as a sculptor in Paris. While there, he began to write and a short story was published in 1957. In 1961 'Serpentina’s petticoat', his first collection of short stories, was published.
This was followed in 1962 by Kort Amerikaans (Crewcut), his first novel, and in 1963 two of his plays were performed. By 1963, when Gesponnen suiker (Candyfloss) was published, he was established as a writer. The rawness of his work and his realistic descriptions of horror as well as tenderness, as in Een roos van vlees (A Rose of Flesh, 1963) and Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight, 1969), ensured a controversial press. Now the times have caught up with him and his books are no longer refused by school librarians. Guilt and punishment often play a role in his books, as does the link between sexuality and death. Terug naar Oegstgeest (Return to Oegstgeest, 1965), often considered his best book, is strongly autobiographical.
More Jan Wolkers
American Crewcut
Eric van Poelgeest is a tormented soul, damaged inside and out; the scar on his face is like the mark of the devil. As a child he was forced to have his hair in a crewcut, so everyone could see his disfigured features.
Turkish Delight
'Turkish Delight' (1969) opens in a sculptor’s squalid studio. The nameless artist has been distraught and angry since Olga, the great love of his life, left him a few years before. He cannot accept that she is gone and lies in bed for weeks at a time, fantasising about what he has lost. When not doing that, he takes his frustration out on other women. ‘I fucked one girl after another. I dragged them to my lair, ripped their clothes off and banged the shit out of them.’