Warren, Hans 1921–2001

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Warren, Hans 1921–2001

(Johannes Adrianus Menne Warren)

PERSONAL:

Born 1921; died 2001; married, 1952 (divorced, 1975); children: two daughters, one son.

CAREER:

Writer, poet, translator, literary critic.

WRITINGS:

In Memoriam Dr. Jac. P. Thijsse, Een Gedicht, A.A.M. Stols (The Hague, Netherlands), 1947.

(With F.P.J. Kooymans and Eric Hosking) Nachtvogels: Met Een Inleiding van N. Tinbergen: Met 92 Afbeeldingen Naar Fotografieën, S. Gouda Quint (Arnhem, Netherlands), 1949.

Een Roos van Jericho, Polak & Van Gennep (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1966.

Tussen Hybris en Vergaan, Bert Bakker/Daamen (The Hague, Netherlands), 1969.

(With André Oosthoek and Martin Ros) Zeeland: Waarom Daarom: Samengesteld Onder Red, De Arbeiderspers (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1970.

Schetsen Uit Het Hongaarse Volksleven, Meulenhoff Nederland (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1971.

Steen der Hulp, Bakker (The Hague, Netherlands), 1975, translated by S.J. Leinbach as Secretly Inside: A Novel, introduction by Jolanda Vanderwal Taylor, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2006.

't Zelve Anders: Gedichten, Arbeiderspers (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1975.

(With H.J. Slijper) Betreffende Vogels, Rap (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1975.

Demetrios, B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1976, 2nd edition, 1986.

Zeggen Wat Nooit Iemand Zei, Bert Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1976.

(With Sietzo Dijkhuizen) Buiten Is Dichtbij: Dirk Van Gelder en de Natuur, Fascinerende Visie van Een Tekenaar-graficus, Amsterdam Boek (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1976.

Nachtvogels, Rap (Baarn, Netherlands), 1978.

Behalve Linde, Tamarinde en Banaan, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1978.

Verzamelde Gedichten, 1941-1981, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1981.

Geheim Dagboek, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1981.

Tijd, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1986.

Demetrios, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1986.

(With Mario Molegraaf) Ik Ging Naar de Geheime Kamers: Over de Dichter K.P. Kavafis, B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1987.

Binnenste Buiten: Over Dagboeken, B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1989.

(With Gerrit Komrij) Nakijken, Dromen, Derven: Een Keuze Uit Eigen Dichtwerk, Bert Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1992.

Spiegel van de Moderne Nederlandse Poezie, Meulenhoff (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1993.

Indigo, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1993.

Vier Warren-liederen: Voor Bariton en Piano, 1993, Donemus (Amsterdam), 1994.

Ik Ging Naar de Noordnol: Natuurdagboek 1936-1942, Bert Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1996.

(With Tom Lanoye) Wat Doe Je Met Me, Tijd? Een Bloemlezing Uit de Poezie van Hans Warren, Ooievaar (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1996.

(With Mario Molegraaf) Voor Verwende Smaken: Nederlandse en Vlaamse Gedichten Uit Het Fin de Siecle, Meulenhoff (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1996.

(With Mario Molegraaf) Ik Heb Alleen Woorden: De Honderd Meest Troostrijke Gedichten over Afscheid en Rouw Uit de Nederlandse Poezie, Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 1998.

Een Stip Op de Wereldkaart, B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2001.

Om Het Behoud der Eenzaamheid: Hoogtepunten Uit Veertig Jaar "Geheim Dagboek," B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2001.

Verzamelde Gedichten, B. Bakker (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2002.

(With Mario Molegraaf) Tussen Borssele en Parijs: Uit Geheim Dagboek 1945-1951, Balans (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2004.

Een Vriend Voor de Schemering: Roman, Balans (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2005.

ADAPTATIONS:

A film adaptation of Secretly Inside has been produced by Laika Films.

SIDELIGHTS:

Hans Warren was born Johannes Adrianus Menne Warren in 1921. The Dutch writer was a prolific novelist, poet, literary critic, and translator of Greek texts, and his work is well known in Holland. He is the author of such varied Dutch works as Een Roos van Jericho, published in 1966, and Demetrios, published in 1976. Some of Warren's later Dutch-language works include Voor Verwende Smaken: Nederlandse en Vlaamse Gedichten Uit Het Fin de Siecle and Ik Heb Alleen Woorden: De Honderd Meest Troostrijke Gedichten over Afscheid en Rouw Uit de Nederlandse Poezie, both written with Mario Molegraaf and published in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Warren died in 2001, and several of his books were published that year, including Een Stip Op de Wereldkaart and Om Het Behoud der Eenzaamheid: Hoogtepunten Uit Veertig Jaar "Geheim Dagboek." Notably, even more books were published posthumously, including Verzamelde Gedichten, published in 2002, and Een Vriend Voor de Schemering: Roman, published in 2005.

Secretly Inside: A Novel, Warren's only book to be translated into English, was published posthumously in 2006. It was originally published in Dutch as Steen der Hulp in 1975. The story is set in Holland during World War II, and Ed, a Jew in Nazi-occupied Holland, goes into hiding at the Westeindes family farm in the countryside. Camiel, the son of the family, is mourning the death of a German soldier who was also his secret lover. Mariete, Camiel's sister, has fallen for Ed, although Ed, it turns out, has fallen for Camiel. It comes to light however, that Camiel's dead boyfriend may have been killed by Camiel, either by accident or on the soldier's request after finding out that he was to be sent to the front. Other rumors indicate that the soldier has committed suicide. Just as Ed and Camiel begin to fall for one another, the police appear, and as Ed and Camiel try to escape, Camiel is shot, though not fatally. Ed and Camiel are separated, and when Ed returns two years later, he finds that Camiel has become insane. Moreover, two of Camiel's other sisters left the farm years ago for the same reason. Critics applauded the book. One noted the autobiographical undertones, stating that the original story was published the same year Warren ended his marriage and went public with his own homosexuality. "To conflate hiding from the Nazis with a homosexual hiding his or her sexual preference ‘in the closet,’ even in an age less chauvinistically accepting than ours, would be artistically disastrous if not just embarrassing for a lesser writer than the Dutch Hans Warren," a Blatt reviewer stated. Donna Chavez, writing in Booklist, noted that "Warren's spare, almost stark prose sets an eerie scene."