Janwillem van de Wetering
Encyclopedia
Janwillem Lincoln van de Wetering (February 12, 1931 in Rotterdam
– July 4, 2008 in Blue Hill, Maine
) was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. He was particularly noted for his detective fiction
, his most popular creations being Grijpstra and de Gier, a pair of Amsterdam
police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novel
s and short stories
. Most of the mysteries are rich with images from Amsterdam, where most of them take place; some also feature a cat named Oliver. He also wrote stories for children and nonfiction works. He usually wrote in Dutch and then in English; the two versions often differ considerably.
Van de Wetering was born and raised in Rotterdam
, but in later years he lived in South Africa
, Japan
, London
, Colombia
, Peru
, Australia
, Amsterdam
and most recently in Surry, Maine
, the setting of two of his Grijpstra and de Gier novels and his children's series about the porcupine
Hugh Pine. His many travels and his experiences in a Zen Buddhist
monastery and as a member of the Amsterdam Special Constabulary ("being a policeman in one's spare time" as he phrased it in his introduction to Outsider in Amsterdam) lent authenticity to his works of fiction and nonfiction.
Van de Wetering was awarded the French
Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
in 1984.
. They are police detectives in the Murder Brigade of the Amsterdam
Municipal Police, and are featured in more than a dozen detective novels and several short stories
published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
.
Grijpstra, heavy, middle-aged, and less-than-happily married, is the senior partner of the team. He is a Frisian
who in his youth dreamed of being a jazz musician or a painter; when a set of drums mysteriously appeared in police headquarters he appropriated them.
De Gier, younger and attractive with deep brown eyes and curly hair and most-often sporting a tasteful denim suit, is single, handsome, and very successful with women. Despite his womanizing, he is an avowed bachelor, and dedicated most to his Siamese cat Oliver (at least, in earlier novels). He is a dreamer and deep thinker, with discursive pondering about "the void," Zen, and life. A native of Rotterdam
, he is, like Grijpstra, an amateur musician. He often carries a small flute, and in odd moments he and Grijpstra improvise together in their office.
The commissaris, small, elderly, and often nearly incapacitated by chronic rheumatism, supervises the partners' field investigations. Intelligent and broadly experienced, he often provides key insights into his juniors' cases, not to mention insightful philosophical commentary. A Frisian like Grijpstra, he is fond of jenever
and small cigars; only his first name, Jan, is ever given.
Grijpstra, de Gier, and the commissaris first appeared in Outsider in Amsterdam (1975). Refer to Janwillem van de Wetering
for a listing of the Grijpstra and de Gier novels.
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
– July 4, 2008 in Blue Hill, Maine
Blue Hill, Maine
Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,390 at the 2000 census. It is home to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the now-closed Liberty School, New Surry Theatre, Kneisel Hall, Bagaduce Music Lending Library, the Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club...
) was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. He was particularly noted for his detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
, his most popular creations being Grijpstra and de Gier, a pair of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
. Most of the mysteries are rich with images from Amsterdam, where most of them take place; some also feature a cat named Oliver. He also wrote stories for children and nonfiction works. He usually wrote in Dutch and then in English; the two versions often differ considerably.
Van de Wetering was born and raised in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, but in later years he lived in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and most recently in Surry, Maine
Surry, Maine
Surry is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,361 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
, the setting of two of his Grijpstra and de Gier novels and his children's series about the porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
Hugh Pine. His many travels and his experiences in a Zen Buddhist
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
monastery and as a member of the Amsterdam Special Constabulary ("being a policeman in one's spare time" as he phrased it in his introduction to Outsider in Amsterdam) lent authenticity to his works of fiction and nonfiction.
Van de Wetering was awarded the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
Grand Prix de Littérature Policière
The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France...
in 1984.
Grijpstra and de Gier novels
Adjutant-Detective Henk Grijpstra and Detective-Sergeant Rinus de Gier, along with their never-named elderly superior, the commissaris, are the most popular creations of Janwillem van de WeteringJanwillem van de Wetering
Janwillem Lincoln van de Wetering was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. He was particularly noted for his detective fiction, his most popular creations being Grijpstra and de Gier, a pair of Amsterdam police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novels and short stories...
. They are police detectives in the Murder Brigade of the Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
Municipal Police, and are featured in more than a dozen detective novels and several short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine is an American monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction...
and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is a monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime and detective fiction. AHMM is named for Alfred Hitchcock, the famed director of suspense films and television.-History:...
.
Grijpstra, heavy, middle-aged, and less-than-happily married, is the senior partner of the team. He is a Frisian
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
who in his youth dreamed of being a jazz musician or a painter; when a set of drums mysteriously appeared in police headquarters he appropriated them.
De Gier, younger and attractive with deep brown eyes and curly hair and most-often sporting a tasteful denim suit, is single, handsome, and very successful with women. Despite his womanizing, he is an avowed bachelor, and dedicated most to his Siamese cat Oliver (at least, in earlier novels). He is a dreamer and deep thinker, with discursive pondering about "the void," Zen, and life. A native of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, he is, like Grijpstra, an amateur musician. He often carries a small flute, and in odd moments he and Grijpstra improvise together in their office.
The commissaris, small, elderly, and often nearly incapacitated by chronic rheumatism, supervises the partners' field investigations. Intelligent and broadly experienced, he often provides key insights into his juniors' cases, not to mention insightful philosophical commentary. A Frisian like Grijpstra, he is fond of jenever
Jenever
Jenever , is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands and Belgium, from which gin evolved...
and small cigars; only his first name, Jan, is ever given.
Grijpstra, de Gier, and the commissaris first appeared in Outsider in Amsterdam (1975). Refer to Janwillem van de Wetering
Janwillem van de Wetering
Janwillem Lincoln van de Wetering was the author of a number of works in English and Dutch. He was particularly noted for his detective fiction, his most popular creations being Grijpstra and de Gier, a pair of Amsterdam police officers who figure in a lengthy series of novels and short stories...
for a listing of the Grijpstra and de Gier novels.
- Outsider in Amsterdam, 1975
- Tumbleweed, 1976
- The Corpse on the Dike, 1976
- Death of a Hawker, 1977
- The Japanese Corpse, 1977
- The Blond Baboon, 1978
- The Maine Massacre, 1979
- The Mind-Murders, 1981
- The Streetbird, 1983
- The Rattle-Rat, 1985
- Hard Rain, 1986
- Just A Corpse at Twilight, 1994
- The Hollow-Eyed Angel, 1996
- The Perfidious Parrot, 1997
- The Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories, 1999 (anthology)
- replaces the anthology The Sergeant's Cat and Other Stories
Children's books
- Little Owl, 1978
- Hugh Pine, 1980
- Hugh Pine and the Good Place, 1981
- Hugh Pine and Something Else, 1983
Other fiction
- The Butterfly Hunter, 1982
- Bliss and Bluster, 1982
- Inspector Saito's Small Satori, 1985 (anthology)
- Murder by Remote Control, 1986 (graphic novel, with Paul KirchnerPaul KirchnerPaul Kirchner is an American writer and illustrator who has worked in diverse areas, from comic strips and toy design to advertising and editorial art....
) - Seesaw Millions, 1988
- Mangrove Mama and Other Tropical Tales of Terror, 1995 (anthology)
- Judge Dee Plays His Lute: A Play and Selected Mystery Stories, 1997 (anthology; includes the original play Judge Dee Plays his Lute and a selection from other anthologies)
Non-fiction
- The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery, 1971
- A Glimpse of Nothingness: Experiences in an American Zen Community, 1975
- Robert Van Gulik: His Life, His Work, 1988
- Afterzen: Experiences of a Zen Student out on His Ear, 1999
Articles/stories not included in books
- Astral Bodies and Tantric Sex. The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, January 10, 1988. (review of a two-volume biography of Alexandra David-NéelAlexandra David-NéelAlexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...
) - The Way Life Should Be - Maine: coastline on a clean, cold sea. The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, September 1, 2003.
Translations
- Alexandra David-NéelAlexandra David-NéelAlexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...
and Lama Yongden: The Power of Nothingness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982 (French to English, with an introduction by the translator) - Van de Wetering translated many books from English to Dutch and two books from French to Dutch.
Unpublished in English
- De doosjesvuller en andere vondsten (The boxfiller and other findings), 1984 (essays in Dutch)
- Waar zijn we aan begonnen? (What have we started?), 1985 (essays in Dutch on the stages of life with the psychologist Hans van Rappard)
- Eugen Eule und der Fall des verschwundenen Flohs, 2001 (children's book in German)
- Die entartete Seezunge, 2004 (inspired by the World War 2 bombing of Rotterdam and the 9/11 disaster in NYC) (a novel in German, appeared as an article in Dutch)
Filmography
- Grijpstra and de Gier (Netherlands, 1979), based on the novel Outsider in Amsterdam, script by Wim VerstappenWim VerstappenWim Verstappen was a Dutch film director and producer, television director, and screen writer.Verstappen grew up on Curaçao. He started at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in 1961, and released his first movie in 1966, De minder gelukkige terugkeer van Joszef Katus naar het land van...
- Rattlerat (Netherlands, 1987), script by Wim Verstappen
- Der blonde Affe (Germany, 1985), based on the novel The Blond Baboon
Television
- A TV series based on the Grijpstra and de Gier characters started airing on Dutch TV in 2004, 30 episodes are made, another 15 are ordered. Roef Hagas and Jack Wouterse play youthful versions of de Gier and Grijpstra.
- CBS aired a TV special featuring the original Hugh Pine novel (StorybreakCBS StorybreakCBS Storybreak is a Saturday morning anthology television series that originally aired on the CBS network during the 1985 season. Hosted by Captain Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan , the episodes are half-hour animated adaptations of some of the most beloved children's books published at the time of airing,...
#12).
Radio
- Van de Wetering wrote 4 radio plays for German TV, again based on the Grijpstra and de Gier series. The plays were aired during the early nineties. Among these is Das Koan (1994), based on Van de Wetering's biography of Robert van GulikRobert van GulikRobert Hans van Gulik was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician , and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.-Life:Robert van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch...
, creator of the Judge DeeJudge DeeJudge Dee is a semi-fictional character based on the historical figure Di Renjie , magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. The character first appeared in the 18th century Chinese detective novel Di Gong An...
series. The English version, Judge Dee Plays His Lute, was included in the anthology with the same name.