Ethel Portnoy (March 8, 1927 – May 25, 2004) was a Dutch writer of prose, who wrote essays, columns, short stories, travel stories and several novels.

Biography

Ethel Portnoy was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

but grew up in the

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as the daughter of

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immigrants. She took classes in English literature in

and learned French in the United States, then departed to Europe in 1950 with a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

for the University of Lyon. She also studied

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

and archeology in

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, with

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

amongst others. She married Dutch author Rudy Kousbroek (1929–2010) in 1951. She raised two children and until 1962 she worked at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. She worked for Dutch papers and was published in ''Randstad'', in the weeklies ''Haagse Post'' and ''Vrij Nederland'' and also in the ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

''. The family moved to The Hague in 1970. In 1978 Portnoy and Hannemieke Stamperius founded the feminist literary journal ''Chrysallis''. Since 1979, she worked at the journal ''Maatstaf''. Portnoy debuted as a novelist in 1971 at the age of 44 with the book ''Steen en Been''. She wrote in English, but considered herself a Dutch writer. Her books were translated by her (ex-)husband (they were divorced in the 1980s), their daughter Hepzibah Kousbroek (1954–2009) and by Tinke Davids.

Works

Most of her books were published by Amsterdam publisher Meulenhoff. * 1971 - ''Steen en been en andere verhalen''. Meulenhoff. * 1974 - ''De brandende bruid''. Meulenhoff * 1978 - ''Broodje Aap. De folklore van de post-industriële samenleving''. De Harmonie, Amsterdam (

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

s) * 1978 - ''Belle van Zuylen ontmoet Cagliostro: Een toneelstuk in twee bedrijven''. Meulenhoff * 1981 - ''Het ontwaken van de zee''. Meulenhoff * 1983 - ''Vliegende vellen: Schetsen en verhalen''. Meulenhoff * 1984 - ''Amourettes en andere verhalen''. Knippenberg * 1984 - ''Vluchten: Reisverhalen''. Meulenhoff * 1985 - ''Een hondeleven.'' Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam * 1986 - ''De geklede mens''. Cantecleer * 1986 - ''De lifter en andere verhalen''. Anthos * 1987 - '' Dromomania. Stiefkinderen van de cultuur: Essays''. Meulenhoff * 1989 - ''Opstandige vrouwen''. Meulenhoff * 1990 - ''Rook over Rusland: Reisverhaal''. Meulenhoff * 1991 - ''De eerste zoen''. Meulenhoff. * 1992 - ''Europese kusten: Fotografische impressies''. Martin Kers, photography. Inmerc * 1992 - ''Gemengde gevoelens''. Meulenhoff * 1992 - ''Madonna's appel: Over vrouwen en de media''. Meulenhoff * 1992 - ''Broodje aap met: Een verdere bijdrage tot de folklore van de post-industriele samanleving''. Harmonie. * 1993 - ''Altijd zomer''. Meulenhoff * 1994 - ''Overal thuis: Reisverhalen''. Meulenhoff * 1996 - ''Bange mensen: Een Haagse vertelling''. Meulenhoff * 1998 - ''Genietingen: Essays''.Meulenhoff * 2000 - ''Zielespijs en wat verder ter tafel komt: Essays''. Meulenhoff * 2003 - ''Portret''. Meulenhoff (memoirs) * 2004 - ''Parijse feesten''. Meulenhoff * 2004 - ''Vijf onbekende zaken van Sherlock Holmes''. De Harmonie

Trivia

The Dutch language is using the term "Broodje Aap" ('monkey sandwich') to refer to

s as a result of Portnoy's book with the same title.

Literature

* Doeschka Meijsing: ''Ethel Portnoy: Informatie''. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam 1984 * Lydia Lippens: ''Ethel Portnoy: Een bibliografie''. Lippens, 1986

References

External links

Entry on Portnoy by Dutch art historian Gary Schwartz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portnoy, Ethel Dutch women writers Jewish Dutch writers American emigrants to the Netherlands Writers from Philadelphia 1927 births 2004 deaths