- Source: Simon Carmiggelt
Simon Carmiggelt (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsimɔŋ kɑrˈmɪɣəlt]; 7 October 1913 – 30 November 1987) was a Dutch writer, journalist, and poet who became a well known public figure in the Netherlands because of his daily newspaper columns and his television appearances.
Biography
Simon Johannes Carmiggelt was born on 7 October 1913 in The Hague, the second son of Herman Carmiggelt and Adriana Bik. He had one older brother, Jan (Johannes Simon). Simon did poorly in school and he left secondary school in 1929. He enjoyed working as an editor for the school paper though, and he was determined to become a journalist.
After various editorial jobs, he became a reporter for the socialist newspaper Het Volk ("The People"). Later on he worked for the same paper as a drama critic. He wrote short columns about daily life in The Hague, which he called Kleinigheden ("Trifles"). In 1939 Simon married Tiny de Goey. A year later she gave birth to a daughter, Marianne. In the same year the first collection of Kleinigheden was published, named Vijftig dwaasheden ("Fifty follies").
When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 and Het Volk was taken over and censored, Carmiggelt resigned from the paper. During the Second World War he had all sorts of small jobs, but he secretly got in touch with the Dutch resistance and worked for the underground newspaper Het Parool ("The Password"). He was responsible for the lay-out and printing of the paper. He wrote a few stories for Het Parool.
Under the German occupation of the Netherlands, Simon's brother Jan was arrested by the Nazis in 1943 for aiding persons in hiding. He was taken to Herzogenbusch concentration camp, where he died of exhaustion on 26 September 1943. Jan's death was to change the rest of Simon's life; he would never fully overcome the trauma it caused.
After the war he again started to write columns for Het Parool; he signed them with the pen name Kronkel ("Twist", or "Kink"). His Kronkels became known for their melancholic, sometimes sombre tone and the ironic use of formal language. Many columns were about unsuccessful, disillusioned people in cafes and bars (often in Amsterdam, where he then lived), who told the writer about their lives. Carmiggelt wrote about his children and later his grandchildren, his cats and other small events in his life. His work became popular and he received various Dutch literary prizes. Together with the Dutch-Indo author and essayist Tjalie Robinson he is credited with establishing a whole new genre in Dutch literature that found successors like Rudy Kousbroek.
In 1977 Carmiggelt started an affair with author Renate Rubinstein. She wrote a book about this, titled Mijn beter ik (My better self), which was published when both she and Simon had died. Carmiggelt's last Kronkel was published in 1983. On 30 November 1987 he died of a heart attack. A year after his death, a statue of Carmiggelt (made by Kees Verkade) was placed near his former house in Amsterdam and one of him and his wife on a park bench near his summer house in De Steeg (Rheden). This last statue was stolen in the weekend of 21 January 2012. It was retrieved on 25 January, sawn into many pieces. Three men have been arrested in relation to this event; the motive is still unclear. The statue was pieced together by the sculptor Wik Kuijl and then re-unveiled in its original site on 23 January 2013.
Selected bibliography
1940 - Vijftig dwaasheden
1940 - Honderd dwaasheden (extended version of Vijftig dwaasheden)
1941 - Johan Justus Jacob
1948 - Allemaal onzin
1948 - Het jammerhout
1950 - Klein beginnen
1951 - Omnibus
1952 - Poespas
1954 - Al mijn gal
1954 - Articles de Paris
1955 - Duivenmelken
1956 - Fabriekswater
1956 - Kwartet
1956 - Spijbelen
1957 - Haasje over
1959 - Een toontje lager
1961 - Alle orgels slapen
1961 - Een stoet van dwergen
1962 - Dag opa
1962 - Kroeglopen I
1962 - Tussen twee stoelen
1963 - Oude mensen
1963 - We leven nog
1964 - Later is te laat
1964 - Kinderen (combination of Klein beginnen en Dag opa)
1965 - Kroeglopen II
1965 - Fluiten in het donker
1965 - Mooi weer vandaag
1967 - Morgen zien we wel weer
1968 - Drie van vroeger
1968 - Je blijft lachen
1969 - Mijn moeder had gelijk
1970 - Twijfelen is toegestaan
1971 - Gewoon maar doorgaan
1972 - Ik mag niet mopperen
1973 - Elke ochtend opstaan
1974 - Brood voor de vogeltjes
1975 - Slenteren
1975 - Maatschappelijk verkeer
1976 - Dwaasheden (1976)
1977 - Vroeger kon je lachen
1978 - Bemoei je d'r niet mee
1979 - De rest van je leven
1979 - Mooi kado
1980 - De avond valt
1980 - Residentie van mijn jeugd
1981 - Een Hollander in Parijs
1981 - Verhaaltjes van vroeger
1982 - Welverdiende onrust
1983 - De Amsterdamse kroeg
1983 - Met de neus in de boeken
1983 - Mag 't een ietsje meer zijn
1984 - Ik red me wel
1984 - Vreugden en verschrikkingen van de dronkenschap
1984 - Alle kroegverhalen (combination of Kroeglopen I en ~II)
1985 - Ontmoetingen met Willem Elsschot
1986 - Bij nader omzien
1986 - Trio voor één hand
1987 - De vrolijke jaren
1987 - Het literaire leven
1989 - Zelfportret in stukjes
1990 - De kuise drinker
1992 - Schemeren
1993 - Van u heb ik ook een heleboel gelezen...
1995 - Thelonious en Picasso
1999 - Beste Godfried, beste Simon
1999 - Voorhout
= Translations
=English
1957 - A Dutchman's slight adventures
1958 - Amsterdam by Simon Carmiggelt, Maria Austria, and Flora van Os-Gammon
1972 - I'm just kidding: More of a Dutchman's slight adventures
Esperanto
2002 - Morgau denove ni vidu
German
1990 - Heiteres Aus Amsterdam. Erzaehlungen; Simon Carmiggelt und Marga Baumer
References
Gelder, Henk van. Carmiggelt: het levensverhaal. (Nijgh & Van Ditmar 1999) ISBN 90-388-2694-X
Rubinstein, Renate. Mijn beter ik: herinneringen aan Simon Carmiggelt. (Meulenhoff, 1991) ISBN 90-290-2566-2
External links
Simon Carmiggelt - Bi(bli)ography
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Simon Carmiggelt
- In a Sentimental Mood
- Reguliersgracht
- Simon (given name)
- List of Dutch-language writers
- Gerrit Berveling
- Het Parool
- De Grootste Nederlander
- October 7
- List of people on the postage stamps of the Netherlands
