Jan Wolkers (1925–2007)

De perzik van onsterfelijkheid is a novel that I would consider typically Dutch and typical for Jan Wolkers. It is typical for Dutch literature in the sense that it is extremely banal, with a lot of base humor. It is typical for Wolkers, particularly for his middle period through the focus on dirt, shit, slime or other filth, in this case dog shit.

Otherwise, the novel is a pleasant, and fluent read, with detail for environment and location. Like many modern novels, it is based of a very thin story, or hardly any.

I have also wondered whether the structure, the tendency of being preoccupied with certain motives and the relative absence of a story line has anything to do with the way Wolkers wrote his books. According to the diaries, he would work very methodically. Every morning he would write just one page. And that's the way it feels, as if each page is a new beginning. But this interpretation may be deceptive because the diaries do not mention revision or other editorial work.… (más)

Each year, since 2006, a book is selected and freely distributed through public libraries as a "national reading experience". In 2019, this book consisted of a selection of the writings of Jan Wolkers. It consists of a number of letters, pieces of prose and a full version of Groeten van Rottumerplaat. The work of
Wolkers is preceded by two introductions, a general introduction by Ronald Giphart and a more specific introduction to the work by the Wolkers biographer Onno Blom. There are a few small contributions by other writers.

The general introduction by Giphart is peculiar in the sense that he suggests these fragments were chosen to fit the overall theme of sustainability. This is really stretching the point, because none of Wolkers's writings are about sustainability of conservation. Giphart also calls Wolkers one of the best Dutch writers about nature and natural history, and this is obviously not true. Why else would the editors have so much difficulty to put together such a thin volume of just over a hundred pages?

It is true that Wolkers has a eye for the natural environment, and includes some detail about plants and animals that other writers might miss, but Wolkers is no great naturalist. Then, too, Wolkers studied biology or intended to study Biology as a young man, and in his final years, after having retired from writing he lived close to nature, painting and drawing and contributing small publications about his garden and his cats, but to suggest that he is one of the greatest writers about nature is really far-fetched.… (más)

For more than 30 years Jan Wolkers was seen as one of the three major Dutch writers. He was mainly active as a novelist, but over the past 15 years until his death a number of his diaries were published.

In 1971 he wrote Groeten van Rottumerplaat which first appeared in a magazine, and was later published in book form. Wolkers had a very macho style and in some ways resembled Hemingway. This is particularly the case with this small book. For the purpose of writing a diary, Wolkers was dropped on the uninhabited island called Rottemerplaat. Instead of hanging in and reading a few books, Wolkers presents himself as a restless wanderer, crossing the islet on foot and recueing and caring for a young seal pup and a bird. Without proper tools and the right type of supplies, caring for the animals is presented as a fight for survival in the style of Robinson Crusoe. Entirely as in his novels and other fiction, the descriptions are very plastic, with a lot of detail about shit and slime, tears and despair.

The Wadden Islands, also known as the (West) Frisian Islands stretch from the peninsula of North Holland, north-east along the Dutch, German and Danish coast. The Dutch Wadden islands consist of five larger, inhabited islands, three small, uninhabited islands and some sand banks.… (más)