"Nescio", Latin for "I don't know", was the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 of the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh, born June 22, 1882 in 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 died July 25, 1961 in Hilversum, both in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Grönloh was a business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

man by profession; as Nescio he is mainly remembered for the three novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

s De uitvreter (The Moocher), Titaantjes (Little Titans) and Dichtertje (Little Poet). His
reputation as an important Dutch writer was only established after his death.

Biography

Nescio was born in the Reguliersbreestraat 49 in Amsterdam, the eldest son of Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh, blacksmith and shopowner, with whom he shared his full name, and Martha Maria van der Reijden. Nescio grew up as Frits Grönloh, to distinguish him from his father.

He was educated at a secular primary school, after which he went to the three year HBS high school and from 1897 to 1899 he went to the Openbare Handelsschool (a college level business school). After this he started work as an office clerk in Hengelo

Hengelo

Hengelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the International Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service.-Traffic and transport:...

, but quickly returned to Amsterdam, where he held a succession of similar jobs. In 1905 Nescio married Aagje Tiket, with whom he would raise four daughters. Until his death in a Hilversum

Hilversum

is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...

 sanatorium in 1961, Nescio would remain in Amsterdam.

Frits Grönloh started writing as Nescio, as he wanted to keep his professional career and his writing career separate. All his stories bear witness to the conflict between his career and his ideals, as formed by the turn of the century utopian socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

. In 1900 he had started a commune inspired by Frederik van Eeden

Frederik van Eeden

Frederik Willem van Eeden was a late 19th century and early 20th century Dutch writer and psychiatrist...

's Walden commune; the commune was wound up in 1903. He still kept his ideals but was no longer personally involved.

Instead he turned to writing, as well as long solitary walks in the countryside around Amsterdam. Not very prolific, much of his writing remained unpublished until after his death and the stories he did publish went out of print quickly. His decision to use a pseudonym does not help with this: it is only in 1932 that Nescio reveals his true name. This leads to a reprint of De uitvreter/Titaantjes/Dichtertje in 1933, as well as some critical attention.

It is only after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 that he becomes reasonably well known, though his oeuvre is still small, roughly 160 pages. However growing critical appreciation leads to him receiving the Marianne Philips award in 1954, as well as the publication of a new collection of stories just before his death in 1961.

His name lives on in the form of the Nesciobrug which enables cyclists and pedestrians to go from Diemen

Diemen

Diemen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands with a population of around 24,000. Diemen is located in the province of North Holland directly to the east of Amsterdam within the capital's metropolitan area.-Geography:...

 to IJburg

IJburg

IJburg is a residential neighbourhood currently under construction in the east of Amsterdam. It is situated in the IJ Lake and is being built on artificial islands which have been raised from the lake...

 over the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal.

Works by Nescio

Nescio was not a prolific writer and it did not help that none of his stories had any success at publication. His reputation as an important Dutch writer therefore rests solely on three short stories, De uitvreter (1911), Titaantjes (1915) and
Dichtertje (1918).

De uitvreter

De uitvreter (loafer or sponger) was first published in the Dutch literary magazine De Gids. The central character is Japi, who wants to be the perfect bohemian, not wanting to do anything with his life but just sit and look at the sea. He is a friend of Koekebakker, the narrator, who thinks Japi is, "apart from the man who thought the Sarphatistraat in Amsterdam was the most beautiful place in Europe, the strangest person he had known". He is also friends with an unsuccessful painter, Bavink, who like Koekebakker would return in Titaantjes. Japi sponges off both Koekebakker and Bavink, as well as other friends, but they do not mind greatly, as he is such an innocent.

The theme of the story is how ideals conflict with the demands of society, which Japi resolves by quietly committing suicide at the end of the book, when it is no longer possible for him to keep pursuing his ideal of doing absolutely nothing. Bavink as an
unsuccessful painter is the best at not conforming, while the narrator is slowly seduced by material comforts.

Titaantjes

Titaantjes (little titans) was first published in Groot-Nederland. It is a semi-sequel to De uitvreter and again features Koekebakker as narrator, reminiscing about his time with Bavink, and the newly introduced characters of Hoyer, Bekker, and Kees, when he still had ideals. The opening sentence is "Boys we were -- but nice boys". The story then leaps ahead several years. Koekebakker is now a successful journalist, while each of the others have failed their ideals in one way or another. Hoyer has given up on changing the world, and works painting portraits. Kees has a blue collar job. Bekker is a mid range official in the SDAP

Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)

The Social Democratic Workers' Party was a Dutch socialist political party and a predecessor of the social-democratic PvdA.-1893-1904:...

. The most ardent adherent to their youthful ideals, Bavink, went mad after being unable to create the masterpiece he had strived after for so long.

Dichtertje

Dichtertje (little poet) was published in one volume with De uitvreter and Titaantjes in a printrun of 500 copies by the art dealer J.H. de Bois. It is the story of an idealistic poet, which unlike the other two stories, is told by Nescio himself. It is slightly daring in its frank discussion of sexual mores and adultery for the time in which it was written, as well as having the "God of the Netherlands" on stage.

The theme of the story is again the conflict between idealistic youth and bourgeois adulthood, with the main character both mourning the loss of his ideals and accepting in his fate as a bourgeois family man.

Other works

• Mene Tekel (1946, often published together with De uitvreter/Titaantjes/Dichtertje).
• Boven het Dal en andere verhalen (Above the Valley and other stories, 1961, a selection of unpublished work, which appeared shortly before his death)
• De X Geboden (The X Commandments, 1971, posthumously published)
• Nescio, Brieven uit Veere, 2010

External links

• Nescio Biography and a review of his three main works form the Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature.
• Review of uitvreter/Titaantjes/Dichtertje, 1961
• Nescio: 'Schrijft U over mij maar niks' Very good and elaborate site about the life and works of Nescio. (Dutch)
• Een Toren om te Staan in de Eeuwigheid An essay about the heaven-motif in Nescio's works by Marc Boelens. (Dutch)
• Nescio Entry in the database of the Digital Library of Dutch Literature. (Dutch)
• De uitvreter translated into Esperanto
• Biography of Grönloh, Jan Hendrik Frederik (pseud. Nescio) Dutch
• Hear Fragments of 'De Uitvreter' and 'Titaantjes' and read a rough English translation