Jan Wolkers

I came to the work of Jan Wolkers through seeing the film Turks Fruit based on his novel of the same name, and then a Dutch friend began translating the book into English for me as there wasn't an English edition available. The prose were sharp and sometimes a little spiteful and extraordinarily fresh. She didn't get too far with the translation, but I subsequently managed to get a 1960s edition in English which I read and enjoyed.

Subsequently I have read 'The Horrible Tango' and 'A Rose of the Flesh' the first of which I found fascinating and disturbing at the same time. All are due for a re-reading.

I have also found Wolkers art interesting and have visited his memorial in Amsterdam to those who died in concentration camps, which was very moving. Sadly there is nothing much written about him in English.

RIP Jan

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/19/arts/EU-A-E-BKS-Netherlands-Obit-Wolke...

RIP JAN

Posted your link Caroline.

This article highlighted, for me, the difficulty of expressing the mood of Dutch phrases in English. It contained this sentence about his Auschwitz monument:

Wolkers wrote that "the sky will never again be undamaged after Auschwitz."

I went "huh?" at that and looked up what he'd actually said.

Je kijkt naar de hemel en je begrijpt niet dat dat blauwe uitspansel boven die ontzetting heeft gestaan, even onaangedaan en vredig als boven een wei met bloemen. En in een visioen van rechtvaardigheid zie je de blauwe lucht boven je vol barsten trekken, alsof de verschrikking die daar op aarde onder haar heeft plaatsgehad voorgoed de eeuwigheid geschonden heeft. Zo ben ik op het idee gekomen om gebroken spiegels op dat kleine stukje aarde boven die urn met as neer te leggen. Voorgoed kan op deze plaats de hemel niet meer ongeschonden weerspiegeld worden.

This has been summarized in Dutch as: Volgens Wolkers symboliseren de gebroken spiegels dat 'de hemel na Auschwitz nooit meer ongeschonden is'.

My attempt at translation:

You look at the sky and you don't understand that that blue expanse was there above that horror, as unmoved and peaceful as over a meadow with flowers. And in a vision of justice you see the blue sky above you break and shatter, as if the
atrocity that took place under it here on earth has forever injured eternity. That way I got the idea to place broken mirrors on that little piece of the earth above that urn with ashes. Never again can the sky be reflected whole at this place.

I have two quibbles with my own translation.

First, "de hemel" also means heaven. This was lost in translation. I can't decide whether Wolkers meant to imply that heaven was damaged too. He specifies "that blue expanse", but also refers to it as "de eeuwigheid" (eternity) which is a common phrase for the afterlife.

Second, the translation of "geschonden". I translated it as "injured" and its negation as "whole". The IHT translator obviously went for "damaged", which has a related negation "undamaged". But damaged is beschadigd. "geschonden" goes deeper. It implies violation, soiling. Its negation implies purity, virginity. A virgin can be literally referred to as "een ongeschonden vrouw" if you're sufficiently old-fashioned. His word choice implies that heaven lost its innocence. I would have gone with "violated" if it hadn't been for the very physical description of the sky breaking.

In any case, I have gained a new respect for Jan Wolkers.

My wife told me what she thought about his statement about the monument. She said that for many people, the blue sky is a sign that everything is all right in the world. It makes them feel happy and safe. And that Wolkers' statement is that the sky does not care.

Sadly, at the age of 81 , Jan Wolkers passed away a few days ago. He was an intensely living person. One could say that he experienced everything that came his way in a very physical way. He was a sculpture and painter before he was a writer, but above all he enjoyed being alive. I would say that he was hungry for life. Legendary were his television broadcasts for children showing and telling them about plants and animals anyone can find in the backyard or in neglected parts of the city. In the sixties he was all alone on a Dutch desert island, enthusiastically telling on the radio about all the wonderful things he saw and experienced. May all of us live our lives as he did: to the full. Zintia.

Richard (Amtek) - thank you for your translation I found it very interesting. I visit the monument often when I am in Amsterdam as I have found it very moving. It is also near De Hortus which is a favourite place to walk.

Unfortunately it is difficult to get Jan Wolkers novels in English, I managed to get 3 in 1960s editions, even harder is anything in English about his art.