Jan Hendrik Wolkers (26 October 1925 – 19 October 2007) was a Dutch author, sculptor and painter. Wolkers is considered by some to be one of the "Great Four" writers of post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Dutch literature Dutch language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, Be ...

, alongside

Willem Frederik Hermans Willem Frederik Hermans (1 September 1921 – 27 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, ...

, Harry Mulisch and

Gerard Reve Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (14 December 1923 – 8 April 2006) was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he i ...

(the latter authors are also known as the "Great Three"). Wolkers was born in

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cen ...

. He became noted as an author in the 1960s mainly for his graphic descriptions of sexual acts, which were often subject of controversy. His 1969 novel '' Turks Fruit'' was translated into ten different languages and published in English as ''Turkish Delight''. It was also made into a highly successful movie, the

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...

-directed '' Turks Fruit'' (1972) which was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Turkish Delight
at Oscars.org and in 1999 won the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century.
of the

Netherlands Film Festival The Netherlands Film Festival ( nl, Nederlands Film Festival) is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Be ...

Wolkers declined several literary awards. In 1982 he refused the Constantijn Huygensprijs, and in 1989 he refused the P.C. Hooftprijs. From 1980 until his death, Wolkers resided on the Dutch island of Texel. He died on 19 October 2007, aged 81, at his Texel home and was cremated 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 ...

at De Nieuwe Ooster cemetery. A number of his outdoor sculptures in the Netherlands have been subject to

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The ter ...

, presumably due to his use of glass as a construction material. Some examples are the

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

monument in Amsterdam and the monument on the dike at Ceres on Texel. In reaction to the destruction of the monument in 2003, Wolkers announced that he would use less glass and more steel for such monuments in future. The Jac. P. Thijsse monument on Texel does contain more steel, but glass is still a substantial part of the artwork. Since 2019, the private and literary archive of Jan Wolkers has been available at

Leiden University Library Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the developme ...

.Leiden verwerft artistieke nalatenschap Jan Wolkers
website

Leiden University Libraries Leiden University Libraries is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a populatio ...

, 19 October 2018 (Dutch).

Bibliography

*1961, ''Serpentina's petticoat'' (stories) *1962, ''Kort Amerikaans/Crew Cut'' (novel) *1963, ''Gesponnen suiker/Cotton Candy'' (stories) *1963, ''De Babel/The Babel'' (play) *1963, ''Een roos van vlees/A rose of flesh'' (novel) *1964, ''De hond met de blauwe tong/The dog with the blue tongue'' (stories) *1965, ''Terug naar Oegstgeest/Return to Oegstgeest'' (autobiographic novel) *1967, ''Horrible tango'' (novel) *1969, ''Turks fruit/Turkish Delight'' (novel) *1971, ''Groeten van Rottumerplaat/Greetings from Rottumerplaat'' (autobiographical documentary) *1971, ''Werkkleding/Workclothing'' (autobiographical documentary) *1974, ''De walgvogel/The dodo'' (novel) *1974, ''Dagboek 1974/Diary 1974 *1975, ''Dominee met strooien hoed/Vicar with straw hat'' (novelle) *1977, ''De kus/The Kiss'' (novel) *1979, ''De doodshoofdvlinder/The death-head hawkmoth'' (novel) *1980, ''De perzik van onsterfelijkheid/The peach of immortality'' (novel) *1981, ''Alle verhalen/All stories'' *1981, ''Brandende liefde/Burning Love'' (novel) *1982, ''De junival/The June trap'' (novel) *1983, ''Gifsla/Poisoned lettuce'' (roman) *1984, ''De onverbiddelijke tijd/The unforgiving time'' (roman) *1985, ''22 sprookjes, verhalen en fabels/22 fairy tales, stories and fables'' *1988, ''Kunstfruit en andere verhalen/Artificial fruit and other stories'' *1989, ''Jeugd jaagt voorbij/Youth passes by'' *1991, ''Tarzan in Arles'' (essays) *1991, ''Wat wij zien en horen/What we see and hear'' (stories, together with Bob and Tom Wolkers) *1994, ''Rembrandt in Rommeldam'' (essays) *1995, ''Zwarte bevrijding/Black Liberation'' (book-week essay) *1996, ''Icarus en de vliegende tering/Icarus and the wasting disease'' *1997, ''Mondriaan op Mauritius/Mondrian on Mauritius'' (essays) *1998, ''Het kruipend gedeelte des aardbodems/The crawling part of earth's surface'' (speech) *1999, ''Omringd door zee/Surrounded by sea'' (columns) *1999, ''De spiegel van Rembrandt/Rembrandt's mirror.'' *2005, ''Zomerhitte/Summer heat'' ("

Boekenweek In the Netherlands, the Boekenweek (; English: Book Week) is an annual "week" of ten days dedicated to Dutch literature. It has been held in March annually since 1932. Each Boekenweek has a theme. The beginning of the Boekenweek is marked by the ...

geschenk") *2005, ''Dagboek 1974/Diary 1974'' *2006, ''2 Texel: Drummers Double Bill & Jan Wolkers'' (CD – music and spoken word) *2007, ''De ladder naar lust/The scale towards lust'' (dictation, written for the Great Dutch Language Dictation 2007) *2008, ''Het was wel een heel lief varkentje''

Graphic novels

In 2006 and 2007 the novel ''Kort Amerikaans'' (''Crew Cut'', 1962) was made into a graphic novel (in 2 parts) by Dick Matena.

Films based on Wolkers' work

* '' Turks Fruit'' (1973), directed by

, nominated for an

* ''

Kort Amerikaans Kort or KORT may refer to: People Given name *Kort Rogge (c. 1425-1501), also known as Rogge Kyle, Konrad Rogge, Cort Rogge, Conradus Roggo gothus and Conradus Roggo de Holmis, a Swedish bishop, member of the Privy Council of Sweden, and humanist * ...

'' (1979), directed by

Guido Pieters Guido Pieters (born 1948 in Maastricht) is a Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the ...

* '' Brandende Liefde'' (1983), directed by

Ate de Jong Ate de Jong (born 1953 in Aardenburg, Zeeland, Netherlands) is a Dutch film director. He is best known as the producer of ''The Discovery of Heaven'' (2001), nominated for a Golden Calf award, and ''Het Bombardement'' (2012). Filmography Direc ...

* ''

En Ros Av Kött En or EN may refer to: Businesses * Bouygues (stock symbol EN) * Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (reporting mark EN, but now known as Southern Railway of Vancouver Island) * Euronews, a news television and internet channel Language and writing * E ...

'' (1985), directed by

Jon Lindström Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Terug naar Oegstgeest'' (1987), directed by Theo van Gogh * '' Summer Heat'' (2008), directed by

Monique van de Ven Monica Maria Theresia "Monique" van de Ven (; born 28 July 1952) is a Dutch actress and director. Life and career From 1973 until 1988 she was married to Dutch cinematographer and director Jan de Bont, with whom she lived in Los Angeles for a n ...

References

External links

Jan Wolkers Archive

Obituary in ''The Times'', 24 November 2007
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolkers, Jan 1925 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch novelists Dutch male novelists Dutch male sculptors People from Oegstgeest Constantijn Huygens Prize winners P. C. Hooft Award winners 20th-century Dutch sculptors 21st-century Dutch sculptors Dutch erotica writers 21st-century Dutch male writers Controversies in the Netherlands Obscenity controversies in literature 20th-century Dutch male artists