De Vlaamse schrijver Stefan Brijs werd geboren op 29 december 1969 in Genk. Zie ook mijn blog van 21 oktober 2006 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2008 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2009.
Uit: Kruistochten
“De laatste drie jaar van zijn leven woonde Willem Frederik Hermans te Etterbeek, deelgemeente van Brussel. Hij betrok er een statig herenhuis aan de Atrebatenstraat, nummer 61. De kans dat de grote Nederlandse schrijver wist dat er in diezelfde straat een Vlaamse schrijver had gewoond en was overleden – zestig jaar voordat hij zelf in 1994 Brussel verliet om in Utrecht te gaan sterven – mag klein worden geacht. Of de naam van die schrijver al iets bij hem zou hebben opgeroepen, is evenzeer twijfelachtig. Toch zou Hermans het amusant hebben gevonden, te weten dat er jarenlang dagelijks een mager mannetje, gehuld in een lange, blauwe overjas, door de straat had gelopen, steeds een boek op een paar centimeter van zijn dikke brillenglazen houdend en enkel opkijkend als het hevige gerinkel tot hem doordrong van de tram waaronder hij dreigde terecht te komen. Dat mannetje was Paul Kenis, op 28 april 1930 ingetrokken aan de Atrebatenstraat, nummer 158, en aldaar overleden in de vroege ochtend van 28 juli 1934.
Paul Kenis was verslaafd aan lezen. Al van in de vroege ochtend, wanneer hij net ontwaakt was, nam hij een boek in de hand, las er tijdens het ontbijt onverstoorbaar in voort, pauzeerde ook niet bij het snoeren van zijn veters en hield zijn lectuur vol tot hij op zijn werk arriveerde, waar hij eenieder erover aansprak. Richard Minne, die in 1920 met Paul Kenis op het ministerie van Economische Zaken werkte, schreef in In 20 lijnen (Vooruit, 20.7.1954): “Van negen tot twaalf en van twee tot vijf: formulieren en nog eens formulieren met namen, woonplaatsen en kapitaalbedragen invullen. Als ik me niet bedrieg moest dat iets te maken hebben met schadevergoedingen wegens oorlogsgebeurtenissen. Enfin soit, Kenis zat rechtover mij en middenin mijn woonplaatsen en mijn kapitaalsbedragen, viel hij soms plat uit: ‘Hebt ge dàt en dàt gelezen? … Nee? … Maar wat hebt gij dan wèl gelezen?” Zijn passie resulteerde uiteindelijk in het werk Een overzicht van de Vlaamsche letterkunde na ‘Van Nu en Straks’ (1930, De Wilde Roos-Amsterdam), dat Kenis vier jaar voor zijn dood voltooide en dat door menig literatuurkenner werd geprezen.“
Stefan Brijs (Genk, 29 december 1969)
De Britse schrijver, filmcriticus en columnist Gilbert Adair werd geboren op 29 december 1944 in Edinburgh. Van 1968 tot 1980 woonde Adair in Parijs, daarna verhuisde hij naar Londen. Hij ontving de “-Scott-Moncrieff Translation Prize” voor zijn boek “A Void”,dat hij uit het Frans vertaalde naar het Engels. De oorspronkelijke titel was La Disparition door Georges Perec. “Moord op ffolkes Manor” was zijn eerste misdaadroman met de amateur-onderzoeker Evadne Mount. Tussen 1992 en 1996 schreef hij voor The Sunday Times (UK) is een wekelijkse column. De film “Love and Death on Long Island” (1997) door Richard Kwietniowski is gebaseerd op een verhaal uit 1990. Voor de film “The Dreamers” door Bernardo Bertolucci schreef Adair het scenario. De inhoud daarvan ontleende hij aan drie van zijn boeken: The Holy Innocents, The Dreamers en Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires.
Uit: The Real Tadzio
„Adzio, for his part, caught the film in Paris – quite alone, as, in Maria’s words, “he would not have wanted to show his feelings about it, even to me”. He had declined to take offence at Visconti’s having neglected to pay him a visit during a talent-scouting tour of Poland in quest of his Tadzio. “It would,” he had written to Jasio, “have been detrimental [for him] to have seen an old man with all the signs of ageing when his imagination was concentrated on recreating the character of a young boy in the style of Thomas Mann.”
The rather delicate matter of his age apart, this “young boy in the style of Thomas Mann” was exactly the pretty, pampered darling described in the novella. Nor did the family portrayed by Mann, albeit sketchily, differ much, at least in the superficial terms allowed by a 70-page fiction, from that of Adzio’s own.
The Moeses (that very un-Polish-sounding name is actually of Dutch origin) came from Westphalia, which had once been one of Prussia’s most affluent provinces. Around the early 1830s Wladyslaw’s great-grandfather, Ernest Moes, and his grandfather, Christian August, chose to resettle in Poland, where, together, they founded a prosperous paper firm in the eastern region of Bialystok. His particular region of Poland finding itself under Russian rule, it was by Czar Alexander II himself that a hereditary barony was eventually bestowed upon him. He died in 1872.
Boekomslag met Björn Arnesen en linksonder: Wladyslaw Moes
Wladyslaw, the Adzio of our tale, was born on November 17, 1900, at Wierbka. He was the family’s fourth out of six, having one elder brother, Alexander, and four sisters, Alexandra, Maria-Anna, Jadwiga and Barbara. Adzio was in fact not just born in the Wierbka manor house but like his siblings educated there. Instead of a single tutor, the children were accorded several apiece. They had, in addition, as members of the upper crust – Adzio’s future title would be “Baron Moes” (in Poland, as distinct from most other European countries, all male offspring, and not exclusively the eldest, inherit their father’s title) – their own private French and German teachers.
The Moes children were raised in accordance with the rigorously strict guidelines in force at the time, which meant that none of them was ever permitted to be what would be called a “spoilt child”. Although (if their adult lives had unfolded without the unforeseen hitch of Communism) they would never have the need nor opportunity to exploit such domestic proficiencies. Adzio’s sisters were taught, at a young age, cooking, sewing, ironing – all the classic “feminine” skills – while even he was expected as a teenager to accompany his father to work in order to learn how paper was manufactured.“
Gilbert Adair (Edinburgh, 29 december 1944)
De Amerikaanse schrijver Paul M. Rudnick werd geboren op 29 december 1957 in Piscataway, een voorstad van New York. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 december 2009.
Uit: A Mother’s Story
„Until I saw the article in the Times, I’d felt so utterly alone. Was I the only one? The sole parent on earth who knew the anguish, the heart-shattering despair of— All right, I’ll just say it, right out loud. I am the mother of an ugly child. She’s not deformed or handicapped or odd; she’s unattractive.
Even during my pregnancy, I’d had my suspicions. I remember peering at the ultrasound screen as my obstetrician told me, “Look, it’s a brand-new life,” and all I could say was “Fine, but why are we watching the Discovery Channel?” And then, after I gave birth, a nurse placed something on my chest and cooed, “Here’s your little miracle,” and I glanced down, bewildered, and asked, “Who ordered the veal scaloppine?”
For the next few years, when guests would drop by, I’d pretend that Lisa, as we’d named her, was a Duraflame log. As she grew older, I referred to her as our new cocker spaniel, although no one really believed this, because, of course, cocker spaniels are adorable. I did, however, begin to read to Lisa, and the titles included “The Four Little Pigs” and “The Little Engine That Settled.”
When Lisa turned five, I was faced with an agonizing decision: where could we send her to school? Shockingly, there are no facilities in this country specifically designed for the education of ugly children, except for a few fringe programs dedicated to computers. So we were eventually forced to send her to school in England, where she was extremely popular. But I remained torn— she was an American child, and sooner or later, at least on vacations, she’d have to return home. The solution became obvious: a large box. I’d have the headmistress simply FedEx Lisa to our address, although whenever the package arrived there’d always be that terrible moment when my heart leaped, because I’d think, Someone’s sent me a gift! Perhaps it’s a fully outfitted wicker picnic basket, or a case of champagne! But then I’d hear that sound—the breathing.“
Paul Rudnick (Piscataway, 29 december 1957)
De Amerikaanse schrijver William Gaddis werd op 29 december 1922 geboren in New York. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 december 2006 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2008 en ook mijn blog van 29 december 2009.
Uit: J R
„…listen to this one. For a fifth straight day, the brave little fourth grader trapped in a steel sculpture Cyclone Seven patiently awaits court settlement in a case that promises to set precedents in art and insurance circles alike. As tightlipped members of the local fire department stand their lonely vigil with acetylene torches ready, prepared to free the boy from what has been called one of the most outstanding contemporary structural comments on mass space, insurance company attorneys continue to work around the clock assembling briefs covering interpretations of the health, accident, life and property provisions contained in the numerous subclauses of the policies directly and indirectly involved in the controversy. Prospects for the out of court settlement rumored yesterday were suddenly dimmed by the intervention of a group calling itself the Modern Allies of Mandible Art. Through its attorneys, MAMA is seeking an injunction against what it terms willful destruction of a unique metaphor of man’s relation to the universe, stating its contention that altering the massive work in the smallest detail would permanently destroy the arbitrary arrangement of force and line that pushes Cyclone Seven beyond the conventional limits of beauty to celebrate in the virile and aggressive terms of raw freedom the triumphant dignity of man.“
(…)
„– It’s worked so far but it can’t work forever, sooner or later somebody will show up who reads Greek. Then where are we?
– Up the creek, Miss Flesch obliged with a promptness that lost her some coffee down her chin, like the smut mail.
– There’s an issue. The smut mail rise.
– My boy sent off for a ball glove and what he got back in the mail was. . . .
– Mouthpiece puller, sleigh bells, strobotuner, choir risers, tympanies, marching bell and stand, two thousand five hundred and… what’s all that for?
– Breakage. Here, replacing glass, repairing doors, painting, refinishing and so forth, thirty-three thousand two eighty-five. Thirty-three thousand dollars for breakage, isn’t that what we’re really talking about? Plain unvarnished vandalism? And another fourteen thousand plus item down here, repairs and replacement, chairs, desks, project tables, pianos, same thing isn’t it? Breakage. . . ? „
William Gaddis (29 december 1922 – 16 december 1998)
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 29e december ook mijn vorige blog van vandaag.