Cees Noteboom

Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom (; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet and journalist. After the attention received by his novel ''Rituals'' (''Rituelen'', 1980), which won the Pegasus Prize, it was the first of his novels to be translated into an English-language edition, published in 1983 by Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) of the United States. LSU Press published his two earlier novels in English in the following years, as well as other works up until 1990. Harcourt (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and Grove Press have since published some of his works in English.

Nooteboom has won numerous literary awards and has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.

Life

Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom was born on 31 July 1933 in The Hague, Netherlands. His father was killed there in the 1945 bombing of the Bezuidenhout during World War II.

After his mother remarried in 1948, his Catholic stepfather enrolled Nooteboom in several religious secondary schools, including a Franciscan school in Venray and a school run by the Augustinians in Eindhoven. He finished his secondary education at a night school in Utrecht.

After his first job with a bank in Hilversum, Nooteboom travelled throughout Europe. In addition to his independent writing, he worked for the weekly magazine ''Elsevier,'' from 1957 to 1960, and at the newspaper ''de Volkskrant'' from 1961 to 1968. In 1967, he became the travel editor of the magazine ''Avenue.''

In 1957 Nooteboom was hired on as a sailor on a freighter to Suriname in order to earn money and ask for the hand of his first wife, Fanny Lichtveld. They married but later divorced in 1964. Some of his travel experiences are recounted in the book ''De verliefde gevangene'' (1958).

He was also in a relationship with the singer Liesbeth List. Nooteboom is married to Simone Sassen and divides his time between Amsterdam, Germany and the island of Menorca.

On 2 September 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from UCL, London.

Literary works

Nooteboom's first novel, ''Philip en de anderen'' (''Philip and the Others'', 1988 English translation), was published in 1954 and won the Anne Frank Prize. His second novel, ''De ridder is gestorven'' (1963) (''The Knight Has Died'', English edition, 1990) was his last for 17 years. During that period, he was working for publications and writing poetry and travel books.

In 1980, his third novel '' Rituelen'' (''Rituals'', 1983) brought him wide acclaim in the Netherlands, winning the Pegasus Prize. It was his first novel to be translated into English and was published by Louisiana State University Press, which published two of his earlier novels in English, as well as others through to 1990.

Other novels by Nooteboom include ''Een lied van schijn en wezen'' (''A Song of Truth and Semblance'', 1984); ''Allerzielen'' (1998) (''All Souls' Day'', 2001), and ''Paradijs verloren'' (''Paradise Lost,'' 2007). His best-known work to English-speaking audiences is perhaps '' The Following Story'' (''Het volgende verhaal'', 1991), which was written for the Dutch ''Boekenweek'' in 1991. It won the Aristeion Prize in 1993.

Nooteboom is also a well-known travel writer. Some of his travel books include ''Een middag in Bruay'', ''Een nacht in Tunesië'', and ''De omweg naar Santiago'' (''Roads to Santiago'', 1997), an anthology of his writings on Spain. This last book inspired the musical work ''Six Glosses'' (2010) by Spanish composer Benet Casablancas. Nooteboom's experiences living in Berlin, Germany, are detailed in the book ''Berlijn 1989–2009'', which collects his earlier books, ''Berlijnse notities'' and ''Terugkeer naar Berlijn'', and new material.

The book '' De omweg naar Santiago'' inspired several Spanish and Dutch composers. It has been the subject of the tournée of concerts celebrated in 2010 in The Netherlands by the Ensemble 88 from Maastricht.

Bibliography

Novels and story collections

* 1954 ''Philip en de anderen;'' ('' Philip and the Others''), English: LSU Press, 1988.
* 1958 ''De verliefde gevangene''
* 1963 ''De ridder is gestorven;'' (''The Knight Has Died''), English: LSU Press, 1990.
* 1980 ''Rituelen;'' (''Rituals''), English: LSU Press, 1983.
* 1981 ''Een lied van schijn en wezen''; (''A Song of Truth and Semblance''), English: LSU Press, 1984.
* 1982 '' Mokusei!''
* 1984 ''In Nederland''; ('' In the Dutch Mountains''), English: LSU Press, 1987.
* 1986 ''Het Spaans van Spanje''
* 1988 ''De brief''
* 1991 ''Het volgende verhaal''; ('' The Following Story''), English: Harcourt Brace, 1994.
* 1998 ''Allerzielen''; (''All Souls' Day''), English: Harcourt, 2001.
* 2004 ''Paradijs verloren''; (''Lost Paradise''), English: Grove Press, 2007.
* 2007 ''Rode Regen''
* 2009 '' 's Nachts komen de vossen''; (''The Foxes Come at Night''), English: MacLehose Press/Quercus, 2011.

Poetry

* 1956 ''De doden zoeken een huis''
* 1959 ''Koude gedichten''
* 1960 ''Het zwarte gedicht''
* 1964 ''Gesloten gedichten''
* 1970 ''Gemaakte gedichten''
* 1978 ''Open als een schelp – dicht als een steen''
* 1982 ''Aas. Gedichten''
* 1982 ''Het landschap verteld. Paesaggi narrati''
* 1984 ''Vuurtijd, ijstijd. Gedichten 1955–1983''
* 1989 ''Het gezicht van het oog''
* 1991 ''Water, aarde, vuur, lucht'' (Water, Earth, Fire, Air)
* 1999 ''Zo kon het zijn''
* 2000 ''Bitterzoet, honderd gedichten van vroeger en zeventien nieuwe''
* 2005 ''De slapende goden / Sueños y otras mentiras'' with Lithographs by Jürgen Partenheimer
* 2020 '' Afscheid, gedicht uit de tijd van het virus''

Essays and reporting

* 1968 ''De Parijse beroerte''
* 1980 ''Nooit gebouwd Nederland'' (''Unbuilt Netherlands''. Rizzoli, 1985)
* 1993 ''De ontvoering van Europa''
* 1993 ''Zelfportret van een ander. Dromen van het eiland en de stad van vroeger''

Travel writing

* 1963 ''Een middag in Bruay. Reisverslagen'' (An Afternoon in Bruay. Travelogues)
* 1965 ''Een nacht in Tunesië'' (A Night in Tunisia)
* 1968 ''Een ochtend in Bahia'' (One Morning in Bahia)
* 1971 ''Bitter Bolivia. Maanland Mali''
* 1978 ''Een avond in Isfahan''
* 1981 ''Voorbije passages''
* 1983 ''Waar je gevallen bent, blijf je''
* 1985 ''De zucht naar het Westen''
* 1986 ''De Boeddha achter de schutting. Aan de oever van de Chaophraya''
* 1989 ''De wereld een reiziger''
* 1990 ''Berlijnse notities''
* 1991 ''Vreemd water''
* 1992 '' Roads to Santiago'' (''De omweg naar Santiago''). In English: Harcourt Brace, 1997
* 1992 ''Zurbarán''
* 1993 ''De koning van Suriname''
* 1995 ''Van de lente de dauw. Oosterse reizen''
* 1997 ''De filosoof zonder ogen : Europese reizen''
* 1997 ''Terugkeer naar Berlijn''
* 2002 ''Nootebooms Hotel'' (''Nomad's Hotel''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009; the German edition with the same title appeared first in 2000)
* 2005 ''Het geluid van Zijn naam. Reizen door de Islamitische wereld''
* 2007 ''Tumbas: graven van dichters en denkers''
* 2009 ''Berlijn 1989/2009''
* 2010 ''Scheepsjournaal''

Awards

* 1957 – Anne Frank Prize (for '' Philip and the Others'')
* 1960 – Poetry Prize from the City of Amsterdam (for ''Ibicenzer gedicht'')
* 1960 – ANV-Visser Neerlandia Prize (for ''De zwanen van de Theems'')
* 1963 – Lucy B. en C.W. van der Hoogtprijs (for ''De ridder is gestorven'')
* 1965 – Poetry Prize from the City of Amsterdam (for ''Gesloten gedichten'')
* 1978 – Jan Campert Prize (for ''Open als een schelp – dicht als een steen'')
* 1981 – Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs (for ''Rituals'')
* 1982 – Cestoda Prize
* 1982 – Pegasus Prize (for ''Rituals'')
* 1985 – Multatuliprijs (for the novel ''In Nederland'')
* 1992 – Constantijn Huygens Prize
* 2002 – Goethe Prize
* 2002 – The Austrian State Prize for European Literature
* 2004 – P.C. Hooft Award
* 2009 – Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren
* 2010 – Gouden Uil for '' 's Nachts komen de vossen''
* 2017 – Mondello Prize
* 2020 – Prix Formentor

In addition to his many literature awards, Nooteboom was awarded honorary doctorates from Radboud University in Nijmegen in 2006 and the Free University of Berlin in 2008.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nooteboom, Cees
1933 births
Living people
20th-century Dutch novelists
21st-century Dutch novelists
Dutch male novelists
Writers from The Hague
Dutch travel writers
Constantijn Huygens Prize winners
Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize winners
P. C. Hooft Award winners
Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren winners
Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
English–Dutch translators
German–Dutch translators
Spanish–Dutch translators
20th-century Dutch male writers
21st-century Dutch male writers
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Journalists from The Hague