Anne de Vries (22 May 1904 – 29 November 1964) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, particularly famous in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

for his

novels A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of '' ...

of regional life. Born in the village of Kloosterveen near

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

, de Vries married Alida Gerdina van Wermeskerken in 1930 and the couple had five children. In 1972, de Vries gained national recognition when his novel ''

Bartje Bartje Bartels is the main character in a series of Dutch books written by Anne de Vries from 1935 on. Bartje is a boy who lives with his poor family in the countryside of Drenthe. His parents want him to become a farmer like his father, but Bar ...

'' was made into a television series by

Willy van Hemert Willem Catharinus (Willy) van Hemert (29 March 1912 – 26 June 1993) was a Dutch actor and theatre and television director, but is best known as a songwriter who penned two winning Dutch songs for the Eurovision Song Contest. Biography Van Hem ...

. The personnage of Bartje subsequently came to symbolize the Dutch province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

. De Vries wrote a number of regional novels, most famously the coming-of-age novel ''Bartje'' and then ''Bartje Seeks Happiness''. He also wrote '' Journey through the Night'', a children's book about

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

which was published in four volumes between 1951 and 1958. His Bartje books may be considered ''

Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

e''.Biografie Anne de Vries verschenen 2010
/ref> De Vries died, aged 60, in

Zeist Zeist () is the Capital city, capital and largest town of the Zeist (municipality), municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht (province), Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of " ...

Selected works

* ''Jongens van de straat'', 1934 * ''Bartje'', 1935 * ''De stroper'', 1935 * ''Jaap en Gerdientje'', 1937 * ''Op de grote heide'', 1937 * ''De grote veenbrand'', 1937 * ''Groot vertelboek voor de Bijbelse geschiedenis'', 1938 * ''Verhalen voor Kersttijd'', 1948 * ''Honderd vertellingen uit de bijbel'', 1949 * ''Het boek van Jan Willem'', 1950 * ''Reis door de nacht'', 1951–1958 * ''De ring van de profeet'' (Anne de Vries and Jan Fabricius), 1952 * ''Kinderkleurbijbel (Oude testament)'', 1961 * ''Twee meisjes in de tropen'' 1964

References

1904 births 1964 deaths Dutch writers People from Assen {{family name hatnote, de Vries, Vries, lang=Dutch