Gerrit Komrij, Dutch poet

b. march 30, 1944

Komrij is considered to be one of the greatest living Dutch poets. From 2000 to 2004 he was the first poet laureate, Dichter des Vaderlands, of the Netherlands. In addition to being a poet, Komrij is also a prose writer of stature. His pieces on poetry make him one of the few Dutch poetry critics of any significance.  Komrij is both admired and feared because of his sardonic humor and biting pen.

His translation of the book on which the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical 'Cats' was based, was used for the Dutch version of the musical. 

In Verwoest Arcadië (Destroyed Arcadia [1980]), he gives an autobiographical "reconstruction of a life amidst boys and books."Komrij has written librettos to two operas: Symposium by Peter Schat (1994), which dramatizes the last days in the life of Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky and Melodias Estranhas by Antonio Chagas Rosa (2000).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Komrij and his partner Charles Hofman befriended a number of Dutch authors including Boudewijn Büch, with whom he maintained a lengthy correspondence. In the early 1980s Komrij and Hofman moved to Portugal, not long after his play Het Chemisch Huwelijk premiered in Amsterdam; he has lived in Portugal ever since. 

Komrij also worked under the names Mr. Pennewip, Gerrit Andriesse and Griet Rijmrok.











Sources:
glbtq, Dutch and Flemish Literature
Poetry International Web
wikipedia

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Gerard Reve, Dutch writer

b. 14 December 1923
d.  8 April 2006

Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, Reve is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch post-war literature. His 1981 novel De vierde man was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.

Reve was one of the first homosexuals to come out in the Netherlands, and is the country's best known, most popular, and most controversial gay writer. He often wrote explicitly about erotic attraction, sexual relations and intercourse between men, which many readers considered to be shocking. However, he did this in an ironic, humorous and recognizable way, which contributed to making homosexuality acceptable for many of his readers. Another main theme, often in combination with eroticism, was religion. Reve himself declared that the primary message in all of his work was salvation from the material world we live in.

His debut novel De Avonden (The Evenings [1947]) portrayed a disillusioned post-war generation. It contains some of Reve's dominant topics--(homo)sexuality, death and religion--and the main characteristics of his literary style, which often is ironic and archaic and mixes the lofty with the trivial. De Avonden is now considered one of the milestones of twentieth-century Dutch literature.

Books: 

Terugkeer (1940),
De avonden (1947),
Werther Nieland (1949),
De ondergang van de familie Boslowitz (1950),
De taal der liefde (1972),
Lieve jongens (1973),
Een circusjongen (1975),
Oud en eenzaam (1978),
De vierde man,
Nader tot u,
Het boek van Violet en Dood,
Brieven aan Matroos Vosch 1975-1992,
Met niks begonnen, correspondentie met Willem Nijholt (1997),
Het hijgend hert (1998),
Verzameld werk, deel 6 (2001)


Sources: 
glbtq encyclopedia: Dutch and Flemish Literature
Wikipedia

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