Theunis Uilke (Theun) de Vries (26 April 1907 – 21 January 2005), was a Dutch writer and poet.
Life
De Vries was born in the Frisian town of
Feanwâlden
Feanwâlden () is a village in the Dantumadiel municipality of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 3,430 in 2014.
Together with the village of Feanwâldsterwâl
Feanwâldsterwâl () is a village in the Dantumadiel and Tytsje ...
. His parents moved to Apeldoorn in 1920. In 1936 he joined the
Communist Party of the Netherlands
The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the ...
and a year later he moved to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
to pursue a career in journalism.
He became editor of the communist newspaper '' De Tribune'' (later renamed as ''De Waarheid'') and '' De Vrije Katheder''. During the occupation of the Netherlands by the Nazi forces he was arrested and imprisoned in Kamp Amersfoort. After the war he eventually became a member of the city council of Amsterdam. Despite his Communist politics he translated
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...
's anti-Soviet novella ''
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
''One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'' (, ) is a short novel by the Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first published in November 1962 in the Soviet literary magazine ''Novy Mir'' (''New World'').
In 1971 he left the party without renouncing
marxism
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
, which he continued to uphold until the end of his life.
He died in Amsterdam at the age of 97 after having suffered from several bouts of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
.
Works
De Vries wrote poetry and many novels, both in Dutch and Frisian. Among his most acclaimed novels are
The Girl With the Red Hair
''The Girl With the Red Hair'' (original title in Dutch: ''Het meisje met het rode haar'') is a popular biographical novel by Dutch author Theun de Vries (1907–2005). It was first published in 1956, and has been reprinted many times.
''The ...
(''Het meisje met het rode haar'') about Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft, and the trilogy ''Februari'', also about the
Dutch resistance
The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...
in
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 ...
Spinoza
Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
received international fame, and was translated. Other biographical subjects included
Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
,
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
.
He also wrote a comprehensive and academic history of the Christian heretical movements, ''Ketters'' (Heretics).