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Portrait of J. Bernlef
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J. Bernlef

1937–2012 · Dutch writer, poet, novelist and translator

Post-warLiteratureSurrealism

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J. Bernlef was the pen name of Hendrik Jan Marsman, a Dutch writer who worked across poetry, fiction and translation. Born in Sint Pancras in 1937, he died in Amsterdam in 2012. Much of his work explores how the mind perceives reality and how hard it is to put that perception into words, and he is counted among the most respected Dutch-language writers of the second half of the twentieth century.

He took his pen name from an eighth-century blind Frisian poet, since a well-known Dutch poet called Hendrik Marsman had died in 1940. In 1958 he spent time in Sweden, an experience that later helped him translate Swedish authors, and the same year he helped launch the magazine Barbarber with fellow poets, a publication shaped by Neo-Dada. His first poetry collection, Kokkels, won the Reina Prinsen Geerligs prize in 1960.

He later turned to fiction. Hersenschimmen (1984), which portrays the slide into dementia from the sufferer's own point of view, brought him wide recognition and was filmed in 1987. His career was recognised with the P. C. Hooft Award in 1994. For many years he also ran the PEN Emergency Fund, which supported writers facing imprisonment and censorship, a role that is often remembered alongside his literary work.

Key works

  • Kokkels (1960), his debut poetry collection, built from short poems on looking and language.
  • Hersenschimmen (1984), a novel about dementia told from the inside, published in English as Out of Mind.
  • Publiek geheim (1987), a novel about secrets within public life, published in English as Public Secret.
  • Eclips (1993), a novel about a man slowly regaining normal life after an accident, published in English as Eclipse.

Curiosities

A borrowed name

He took the name of an eighth-century blind Frisian poet to avoid confusion with the Dutch poet Hendrik Marsman, who had died in 1940. He also wrote under several other pen names.

A tiny print run

The magazine Barbarber first appeared in an edition of 100 copies. One issue was made up entirely of wallpaper samples.

Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.