Stefan Hertmans
Encyclopedia
Stefan Hertmans is a Flemish
Belgian writer. He is head of a study centre at University College Ghent and affiliated researcher of the Ghent University. He won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs
in 2002 for the novel Als op de eerste dag.
Hertmans wrote a second theatre play For the Brussels Kaaitheater, about the obsessive power of women in Greek tragedies (Antigone, Clytaemnestra, Medea). In autumn 2001, it became a stage production by Toneelgroep Amsterdam with Gerard-Jan Rijnders. (Mind the Gap, Meulenhoff 2000).
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
Belgian writer. He is head of a study centre at University College Ghent and affiliated researcher of the Ghent University. He won the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs
Ferdinand Bordewijk Prijs
The Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize or F. Bordewijk-prijs is a literary award, presented anually by the Jan Campert Foundation to the author of the best Dutch prose book....
in 2002 for the novel Als op de eerste dag.
Work
Hertmans published five novels, two story collections, six essay books and twelve collections of poetry.- Gestolde Wolken (Frozen Clouds, 1986), won Hertmans the Multatuli-prize of the city of Amsterdam.
- His volume of poems Bezoekingen (Visitations, 1988), won the Arch-prize of the Free Word and the tri-annual Prize of the Flemish Provinces.
- The title story of De grenzen van woestijnen (Borders of deserts, 1988), was translated into English and published in The Review of contemporary Fiction (Illinois) (summer 1994); British author Rupert ThomsonRupert Thomson-Biography:Following the sudden death of his mother, Rupert Thomson was educated as a boarder at Christ's Hospital School. At seventeen, he was awarded a scholarship to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he studied Medieval History and Political Thought. He worked for four years as a...
took the motto for his novel The book of RevelationThe Book of Revelation (novel)The Book of Revelation is a novel by UK author Rupert Thomson. The book was published in 2000 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and has 264 pages. The novel was unique for its detailed descriptions of a non statutory female on male rape....
from this story. - In 1994 the Kaaitheater in Brussels took up Hertmans' first play, Kopnaad (Suture, 1990); it was directed by Jan Ritsema. This production was staged for the Theaterfestival 1995 and then in various cities in Flanders and Holland. Fischer Verlag Frankfurt published the German edition, which was turned into a Berlin radio play in 1997.
- To Merelbeke (1994), a novel described as an ironical "autobiographical lie" about a Flemish youth, was widely praised and nominated for the Libris prize and the ECI prize. A German translation was published in 1996 (Amselbach, Kiepenheuer Verlag Leipzig).
- Muziek voor de overtocht (Music for the crossing, 1994), a volume of five long poems on Paul Hindemith, Paul Valéry, Paul Cézanne, Vaslav Nijinsky and Wallace Stevens, won the Belgian State prize for poetry 1995.
- Steden – verhalen onderweg (1998), a novel in an autobiographical key, relates Hertmans' impressions of European cities such as DresdenDresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, TübingenTübingenTübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
, TriesteTriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, BratislavaBratislavaBratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, and Marseilles. The book was nominated for the Generale Bank-prijs (former & later AKO). Reaktion Books, London, published a translation of this book in 2001. A French translation was published by Le Castor Astral in 2003 (Entre Ville); it won the Prix La Ville à Lire/France culture. - Goya als Hond, a volume of poetry, was was awarded the ‘Maurice Gilliams Prize 2002’. One of the poems won the prize for the best poem of 1999.
- ‘As on the first day’ ('Als op de eerste dag') (2001), was nominated for the AKO-Prize, and was awarded the ‘Ferdinand Bordewijk’ Prize by the Jan Campert Foundation. This novel was published in French as Comme au premier jour by Christian Bourgois ed., Paris, in 2003.
- In 2000, Hertmans wrote a philosophical reflection on the obscene in contemporary imagination, called Het Bedenkelijke. His publishers released it as part of a series, with books by Peter Sloterdijk, Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Zizek.
Hertmans wrote a second theatre play For the Brussels Kaaitheater, about the obsessive power of women in Greek tragedies (Antigone, Clytaemnestra, Medea). In autumn 2001, it became a stage production by Toneelgroep Amsterdam with Gerard-Jan Rijnders. (Mind the Gap, Meulenhoff 2000).
- His compendium of essays on theatre, Het zwijgen van de tragedie (The silence of tragedy, 2007), won the Five Year Prize for Essay from the Royal Academy for Dutch Linguistics and Literature (KANTL). Spanish translation 'El Silencio de la Tragedia' was published by Pre-Textos in 2009.
Other works
- Borders of Deserts, short story in The Review of contemporary Fiction, Summer 1994, Illinois USA.
- The Tail of the Magpie, short story, and selection of poems in The literary review, 1997, Madison USA.
- Poems in Modern Poetry in translation, selection of twenty poems translated by Theo Hermans, Yann Lovelock e.o., London winter 1997
- ‘Marsyas’, in Grand Street 70, spring 2002, New York
- Poems in New European Poets, Ed. Wayne Miller & Kevin Prufer, Graywolf Minnesota 2008
- Anne Marie Musschoot, The courage of the critical intellect, essay followed by extracts and poems, in The Low Countries, Arts and society in Flanders and the Netherlands, Yearbook 1997-1998, p. 178-186.
Awards
- 1989 - Arkprijs van het Vrije WoordArkprijs van het Vrije WoordThe Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord is a symbolic award which was created in 1951 by Herman Teirlinck and the editorial team of the Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift to counteract ideologically driven restrictions on the freedom of expression.He wanted to bring those persons into the spotlight who actively...
for Bezoekingen - 1995 - Belgian State Prize for Poetry for Muziek voor de Overtocht
- 2002 - Ferdinand Bordewijk PrijsFerdinand Bordewijk PrijsThe Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize or F. Bordewijk-prijs is a literary award, presented anually by the Jan Campert Foundation to the author of the best Dutch prose book....
for Als op de eerste dag