Cees Nooteboom

Cees Nooteboom

Portrait of Cees Nooteboom

Cees Nooteboom in 2011
Born Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria Nooteboom
(1933-07-31) 31 July 1933
The Hague, Netherlands
Occupation Novelist, poet, journalist
Language Dutch
Nationality Dutch
Period 1954–present
Spouse Fanny Lichtveld (1957–1964)
Partner Liesbeth List (1965–1979)
Website
www.ceesnooteboom.com

Literature portal

Cees Nooteboom (Dutch pronunciation: [seːs noːtəboːm]; born 31 July 1933) is a Dutch novelist, poet, and journalist. He has won numerous literary awards and has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.[1]

Life

Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria "Cees" Nooteboom was born on 31 July 1933 in The Hague, Netherlands.[2]

His father was killed there in 1945 by a British air raid. After his mother remarried in 1948, his Catholic stepfather enrolled Nooteboom in several religious secondary schools, including a Franciscan school in Venray and a school run by the Augustinians in Eindhoven. He finished his secondary education at a night school in Utrecht.[3]

After his first job with a bank in Hilversum, Nooteboom traveled throughout Europe. In addition to his writing, he has worked for the weekly magazine, Elsevier, from 1957 to 1960, and at the newspaper de Volkskrant from 1961 to 1968. In 1967, he became the travel editor of the magazine Avenue.

In 1957 Nooteboom hired on as a sailor on a freighter to Surinam in order to earn money and ask for the hand of his first wife, Fanny Lichtveld. They divorced in 1964. Some of his experiences are recounted in the book De verliefde gevangene (1958). He was also in a relationship with the singer, Liesbeth List. Currently he is married to Simone Sassen and divides his time between Amsterdam and the island of Minorca.

In addition to his many literature awards, Nooteboom was awarded honorary doctorates from Radboud University in Nijmegen in 2006 and the Free University of Berlin in 2008.[4]

Literary works

Nooteboom (right) with Liesbeth List, Frans Myts & the Sunday Times (1967)

Nooteboom's first novel, Philip en de anderen (Philip and the Others, 1988), was published in 1954 and won the Anne Frank Prize. His second novel, De ridder is gestorven (The Knight Has Died, 1990), published in 1963, was to remain his last for 17 years. In 1980, his novel Rituelen (Rituals, 1983) brought him wide acclaim in the Netherlands and won the Pegasus Prize. It was also his first translated into English. Other novels include Een lied van schijn en wezen (A Song of Truth and Semblance, 1984); Allerzielen (All Souls' Day, 2001) and Paradijs verloren (Paradise Lost, 2007). His best-known work to English-speaking audiences is perhaps The Following Story (Het volgende verhaal, 1991), which was written for the Dutch Boekenweek in 1991 and won him the Aristeion Prize in 1993.[5]

Nooteboom is also a well-known travel writer. Some of his travel books include Een middag in Bruay, Een nacht in Tunesië, and De omweg naar Santiago (Roads to Santiago, 1997); this book inspired the musical work "Six Glosses" (2010) by Spanish composer Benet Casablancas. His experiences living in Berlin are detailed in the book Berlijn 1989-2009, which is a collection of his earlier books Berlijnse notities and Terugkeer naar Berlijn and new material.[6]

The book De omweg naar Santiago inspired several Spanish and Dutch composers, and has been the subject of the tournée of concerts celebrated in 2010 in The Netherlands by the Ensemble 88 from Maastricht.[7]

Bibliography

Novels and story collections

Poetry

Essays and reporting

Travel writing

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "'Nomad's Hotel' by Cees Nooteboom". The Los Angeles Times. 8 April 2009.
  2. ↑ (Dutch) Dick Welsink, "Cees Nooteboom: een leven in data", Cees Nooteboom. Ik had wel duizend levens en ik nam er maar één! (1997). Retrieved on 2012-10-10.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Invitation to Press Conference: Cees Nooteboom to Be Granted Honorary Doctorate from Freie Universität
  5. ↑ The Dutch Foundation For Literature (17 November 2009). "Cees Nooteboom". Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  6. ↑ Nooteboom, Cees. Berlijn 1989/2009 (De Bezige Bij, 2009), p. 413.
  7. ↑ See http://www.ensemble88.nl/concertagenda_2010.aspx
  8. ↑ Nooteboom krijgt zijn dierbaarste prijs, de Volkskrant, 19 nov 2009

External links

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