Jan Hanlo, in full Johannes Bernardus Maria Raphael Hanlo (

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, 29 May 1912 -

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

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 ...

16 June 1969) was a Dutch poet and writer. The son of a judge in the Dutch East Indies, Hanlo grew up with his mother, who was a Roman Catholic bigot, in Deurne, later in

Valkenburg aan de Geul Valkenburg aan de Geul (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the southeastern Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. The name refers to the central town in the municipality, ...

, both in the south of the Netherlands. From 1942-1958 he lived in Amsterdam, where he grew to be interested in poetry and was associated with the experimental group of the

Vijftigers De Vijftigers ("Those of the fifties") were a loosely connected group of experimental Dutch and Belgian writers, which was started in the late 1940s and were also connected to the Cobra movement. The group included Hans Andreus, Lucebert, Simon ...

, although he was an outsider in that group. In 1951 his first book op poems was published, ''The varnished - Het geverniste''. His most famous poem, 'Oote', meant as a rendering of children's speak in written sounds, was published in 1952. It resulted in a minor scandal, when it was read aloud in the Dutch parliament as an example of art that should not be

subsidized A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

by the government. For the most part, Hanlo's work is less experimental. Its recurring themes are beauty and innocence. Hanlo was an amiable, shy man, who found pleasure in relating with boys. Alleged homosexual acts brought him into contact with the law. Because of this he was treated in mental hospitals, and according to his 1998 biography, Hanlo was castrated. In the end of the 1950s he started writing prose. He died after his motorcycle collided into a lorry. After his death, more of his prose was published and his correspondence. Jan Hanlo is still a valued Dutch author, his poems have been put to music several times. Some of his poems were used to adorn walls, for instance in the Wall poems in Leiden project.

References

*''Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent. Biografie van Jan Hanlo'', Hans Renders, 1998, , Dissertation Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, Tilburg.

External links

Entry on Jan Hanlo at dbnl
*
''Zo meen ik dat ook jij bent''
as a wall poem in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

1912 births 1969 deaths Dutch male poets People from Bandung 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch male writers Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies Controversies in the Netherlands Literature controversies Counterculture of the 1950s {{Netherlands-writer-stub