A.F.Th. van der Heijden

A.F.Th. van der Heijden (b. 1951) studied psychology and philosophy in Nijmegen, but after moving to Amsterdam he turned to writing. His first two books appeared under the pseudonym Patrizio Canaponi: the short-story collection Een gondel in de Herengracht (A Gondola in the Herengracht, 1978; Anton Wachter Prize 1979) and the novel De draaideur (The Revolving Door, 1979). Van der Heijden won national fame with De tandeloze tijd (The Toothless Time), a brilliant seven-volume saga about Amsterdam in the seventies and eighties, published between 1983 and 1996. In 2003 De Movo Tapes appeared, the first volume of a new cycle of novels, entitled Homo duplex, followed by Het schervengericht (Judgement by Shards, 2007).

The last few years have been turbulent and tragic for Van der Heijden. In 2011 his only child Tonio was killed in a road accident and precisely a year later he published an autobiographical novel, an impressive picture of his son that is imbued with his regret at never having been the father he wanted to be. Tonio was awarded the Libris Literature Prize and the Readers’ Prize, and this year the author received the ultimate Dutch literary honour, the P.C. Hooft Prize.

De slag om de Blauwbrug

(Querido, 1983, 121 pagina's)

In this book, which is the overture to the cycle of novels De tandeloze tijd (The Toothless Time), the leading character in the first two volumes is introduced. Albert Egberts is a thirty-year-old junky who by means of a pair of scissors gains entry to cars and empties them to finance his habit. He realizes that he has turned thirty on the day that Queen Beatrix of Holland was crowned in a turbulent Amsterdam on 30 April 1980.

Vallende ouders / De gevarendriehoek

(Querido, 1983, 470 pagina's)

From the outset Albert Egberts is looking for a method to neutralise the crushing effect of the ravages of time. He wishes to compress ‘the broadness of life’, as many impressions as possible, into one moment. A determinant factor in the structure of the first volumes of the novel cycle De tandeloze tijd (The Toothless Time) is Egberts’ method of recollection. Starting in contemporary Amsterdam he plunges farther and farther back in time.

Het leven uit een dag

(Querido, 1988, 196 pagina's)

‘L’enfer c’est la répétition,’ is the motto of Ionesco at the beginning of the small, symbolic novel Mayfly (1988).

Advocaat van de hanen

(Querido, 1990, 573 pagina's)

A.F.Th van der Heijden’s books incorporate historical events and real locations. His main characters were born during the postwar period of reconstruction, as adults in an increasingly prosperous world they search for stimuli in an attempt to give form and content to their lives.

Asbestemming

(De Bezige Bij, 1994, 344 pagina's)

Reality and fiction are always closely bound up together in the work of A.F.Th. van der Heijden. Historical events – such as the coronation of Queen Beatrix in 1980, which was marked by serious disorder on the streets, and the social unrest of the seventies and eighties – form the backdrop to the dramatic lives of his characters, who are often based on real people.

Het Hof van Barmhartigheid

De tandeloze tijd 3, eerste boek

(Querido, 1996, 656 pagina's)

After the appearance of the first parts of his cycle of novels De tandeloze tijd (The Toothless Time), A.F.Th. van der Heijden was heralded ‘the voice of his generation’ and a king among chroniclers. Now that these two massive books which record the seventies have appeared, the jubilant critics and readers leave no room for doubt – Van der Heijden is not only the greatest writer of his generation but also an author whose literary aims go far beyond the description of the Zeitgeist.

Onder het plaveisel het moeras

De tandeloze tijd 3, tweede boek

(Querido, 1996, 768 pagina's)

After the appearance of the first parts of his cycle of novels De tandeloze tijd (The Toothless Time), A.F.Th. van der Heijden was heralded ‘the voice of his generation’ and a king among chroniclers. Now that these two massive books which record the seventies have appeared, the jubilant critics and readers leave no room for doubt – Van der Heijden is not only the greatest writer of his generation but also an author whose literary aims go far beyond the description of the Zeitgeist.

De Movo Tapes

(Querido, 2003, 715 pagina's)

Na de voltooiing van De tandeloze tijd, de schitterende zevendelige romancyclus over Amsterdam in de jaren zeventig en tachtig, heeft A.F.Th. van der Heijden zich opnieuw gezet aan een fascinerend en megalomaan project. Met De Movo Tapes deed hij, na zeven jaar te hebben gezwegen, het ‘nulde’ deel het licht zien van de romancyclus Homo duplex (‘de gespleten mens’) die zich, blijkens een lijstje titels voorin het boek, over negen delen zal gaan uitstrekken.

Het schervengericht

(Querido, 2007, 1051 pagina's)

Wie de nieuwe, vuistdikke roman van A.F.Th. van der Heijden, Het schervengericht, begint te lezen valt van de ene verbazing in de andere. Van meet af aan voert de schrijver je mee in een verhaal dat zowel bekend aandoet als vreemd en verwonderlijk voorkomt. De feitelijke handeling vindt plaats binnen een beperkte tijd, een aantal maanden op de grens van 1977 en 1978, en een letterlijk beperkte plek: de gevangenis van Choreo in San Bernardino, De Verenigde Staten van Amerika.

Tonio

(De Bezige Bij, 2011, 640 pagina's)

A.F.Th. van der Heijden already had a number of ‘requiems’ to his name: for a childhood sweetheart, a cousin who died in an accident, his father, his mother and a good friend. He has proven himself able to use the subject of death to lend meaning to their lives, with great retroactive force. Looking back, these books were merely the prelude to his most recent ‘requiem novel’, a hefty book that overshadows everything that came before: Tonio.

De helleveeg

(De Bezige Bij, 2013, 244 pagina's)

De laatste jaren van A.F.Th. van der Heijden waren turbulent en tragisch: in 2011 overleed zijn enige kind Tonio. Een jaar na datum publiceerde hij een vuistdikke roman, een indrukwekkend portret van zijn zoon dat vervuld is van spijt omdat hij niet de vader was geweest die hij wilde zijn. Tonio kreeg de Libris Literatuur Prijs, de Publieksprijs en de schrijver ontving de hoogste eer in de vorm van de P.C. Hooftprijs.

De ochtendgave

(De Bezige Bij, 2015, 256 pagina's)

What happens to someone caught in the diplomatic push-and-pull of great powers jostling for territory and riches? That is the tense world in which Caspar Sonmans, the hero of A.F.Th. van der Heijden’s very first historical novel, finds himself fatally embroiled.

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