Tag: Hans Weigel

André Brink, Eduard Escoffet, G. K. Chesterton, Bernard Clavel, T. H. White, Hans Weigel, Max Brand, Joel Benton, Dolores Dorantes

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook alle tags voor André Brink op dit blog.

Uit: The blue door

“The urge to touch her becomes hard to resist. But I am restrained by the uncertainty about what might happen if I do. And there is the pure visual joy of looking at her. For the time being I do not want to do anything except to look, and look, and look. (How I wish I could paint her as she lies there now, at this moment, so close, so real.)
After a while, from the way in which she remains almost motionless, never bothering to turn a page, I realise that she is not reading either. Waiting for me to make the first move?
I move my hand closer to her, still without touching.
I seem to detect the merest hint of a stiffening in her body. But it may well be my imagination. And it is of decisive importance that I be sure before I risk an approach. Because if not…
‘What are you reading?’ I ask. But my voice is so strained that I have to clear my throat and repeat the question.
‘Haruki Murakami,’ she says, turning slightly over on her back and raising the book to let me see it. ‘Sputnik Sweetheart.’
‘What’s it like?’
‘A strange book,’ she says without looking at me. ‘I don’t think it’s entirely convincing, but it’s very disturbing.’ Now she settles squarely on her back and turns her head to look at me. ‘In the key episode of the story the young Japanese woman – what’s her name?’ She flips through a few pages. ‘Yes: Miu. She gets stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel at a fair in the middle of the night. And when she looks around, she discovers that she can see into her own apartment in the distance. And there’s a man in there, a man who has recently tried to get her into bed. While Miu is looking at him, she sees a woman with him. And the woman is she herself, Miu. It is a moment so shocking that her black hair turns white on the spot.’ Her black eyes look directly into mine. ‘Can you imagine a thing like that happening? Shifting between dimensions, changing places with herself…?’
‘I think that happens every day,’ I say with a straight face.
‘What do you mean?’
‘When one makes love. Don’t you think that’s a way of changing places with yourself? The world becomes a different place. You are no longer the person you were before.’

André Brink (29 mei 1935 – 6 februari 2015)

 

De Catalaanse dichter, schrijver en vertaler Eduard Escoffet werd geboren op 29 mei 1979 in Barcelona. Zie ook alle tags voor Eduard Escoffet op dit blog.

holz im herz (fragment)

holz im herz
holz im hirn
holz in den gedärmen

ein mann geht zur toilette. ein mann geht zur toilette. die kabine, auch die kabine. ein mann schließt die tür und ein anderer mann ist schon drin. es gibt noch mehr kabinen und trübes licht. ein paar hände fangen bei den hinterbacken an und reiben über den rücken, ziehen das unterhemd heraus bis zu den schultern. das andere paar hände stemmt sich gegen den körper und die kraft des anderen. es müsste alles schnell gehen. er kommt herein. ein mann kommt in eine andere kabine. verschlossen ein körper, doch offen dieser hier. das licht scheint weiter, als ob es den atem anhielte.

holz
das holz ist schon kein holz mehr
holz überall
und holz im wind

derjenige, der zur toilette geht, der drinnen das sonnenlicht mit dem licht der neonröhre verwechselt. kein interesse daran, sich damit aufzuhalten, eins vom anderen zu unterscheiden. er setzt sich auf die toilette: er hat alle zeit der welt. der hellsichtige und jener, dem ein licht wie das andere gilt. er verwechselt erst die hosentaschen, doch dann findet er sie. er sitzt auf der toilettenschüssel, spannt sich genüsslich an und löst den schuss aus. vielleicht fällt das licht durch ein fenster, oder es ist nur die neonröhre. von den ersten, die nach dem schuss hereinkommen, wird sicher einer den eimer und putzlappen holen.

Eduard Escoffet (Barcelona, 29 mei 1979)

 

De Engelse dichter, letterkundige, schrijver en journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton werd geboren in Londen op 29 mei 1874. Zie ook alle tags voor G. K. Chesterton op dit blog.

Uit: Twelve Modern Apostles and Their Creeds

“The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, “It is the only thing that…” As, for instance, (1) It is the only thing that really prevents a sin from being a secret. (2) It is the only thing in which the superior cannot be superior; in the sense of supercilious. (3) It is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. (4) It is the only thing that talks as if it were the truth; as if it were a real messenger refusing to tamper with a real message. (5) It is the only type of Christianity that really contains every type of man; even the respectable man. (6) It is the only large attempt to change the world from the inside; working through wills and not laws; and so on.
Or I might treat the matter personally and describe my own conversion; but I happen to have a strong feeling that this method makes the business look much smaller than it really is. Numbers of much better men have been sincerely converted to much worse religions. I would much prefer to attempt to say here of the Catholic Church precisely the things that cannot be said even of its very respectable rivals. In short, I would say chiefly of the Catholic Church that it is catholic. I would rather try to suggest that it is not only larger than me, but larger than anything in the world; that it is indeed larger than the world. But since in this short space I can only take a section, I will consider it in its capacity of a guardian of the truth.
The other day a well-known writer, otherwise quite well-informed, said that the Catholic Church is always the enemy of new ideas. It probably did not occur to him that his own remark was not exactly in the nature of a new idea. It is one of the notions that Catholics have to be continually refuting, because it is such a very old idea. Indeed, those who complain that Catholicism cannot say anything new, seldom think it necessary to say anything new about Catholicism. As a matter of fact, a real study of history will show it to be curiously contrary to the fact. In so far as the ideas really are ideas, and in so far as any such ideas can be new, Catholics have continually suffered through supporting them when they were really new; when they were much too new to find any other support. The Catholic was not only first in the field but alone in the field; and there was as yet nobody to understand what he had found there.”

G. K. Chesterton (29 mei 1874 – 14 juli 1936)

 

De Franse schrijver Bernard Charles Henri Clavel  werd geboren op 29 mei 1923 in Lons-le-Saunier. Zie ook alle tags voor Bernard Clavel op dit blog.

Uit: Les roses de Verdun

« Et vous partiez à pied ? — On se regroupait par bataillons dans les prairies où il n’y avait plus un poil d’herbe. La poussière ou le bourbier. On nous distribuait la soupe ou le café et du pain souvent moisi. On mangeait debout, à côté des faisceaux. Et puis on partait, puis après on attendait la nuit pour s’enfiler dans les boyaux d’accès. On peut dire que la guerre commençait vraiment sur cette route. — Laisse Augustin parler. Tu dis assez parle pas. Sans se retourner, femme : — Ça n’est pas tous les jours que je roule sur la Voie sacrée. Si ça ne te fait aucun effet, tant mieux pour toi… moi, ça me remue. Il a cessé de m’interroger. Je préférais, car la route n’était vraiment pas facile et, dans les descentes, la voiture chassait un peu. Plusieurs fois, nous avons vu des véhicules arrêtés et qui nous gênaient pour passer. Un gros camion était couché dans le fossé. Non, Monsieur ne m’a plus interrogé, mais c’est lui qui s’est mis à parler. Il ne l’avait jamais fait de cette manière, et j’ai compris ce conduire. Ne le fais pas qu’un bon chauffeur ne le patron a lancé à sa matin-là que s’il m’avait si souvent interrogé, il avait dû beaucoup lire aussi et regarder souvent des images de cette partie de la Grande Guerre. Il connaissait les noms des villages où l’on s’était beaucoup battu. En fait, il nous parlait comme s’il avait voulu nous apprendre la vérité sur ces combats. Il disait, par exemple : — Au Tourniquet, quand les poilus regar-daient s’en aller les camions vides, tous se demandaient combien d’entre eux revien-draient. Lesquels étaient d’avance marqués pour rester dans ce bourbier que tant d’autres avaient déjà arrosé de sang. Jusqu’à Bar-le-Duc, il n’a guère cessé de raconter. Il se souvenait de mille détails que j’avais oubliés. Même les noms des généraux et des colonels qui avaient commandé à Ver-dun lui étaient familiers. Et toujours revenait la grande aventure des camions se suivant à se toucher et de cette route où des centaines de territoriaux jetaient des pierres à longueur de journées et de nuits sans jamais inter-rompre ni même ralentir le trafic. Qu’un camion tombe en panne, il était aussitôt poussé hors de la chaussée. Jamais, jamais le flot ne devait se ralentir. A un moment, il a dit : — Cette route, c’était une artère. »

Bernard Clavel (29 mei 1923 – 5 oktober 2010)

 

De Engelse dichter en schrijver Terence Hanbury White werd geboren op 29 mei 1906 in Bombay (Mombai). Zie ook alle tags voor T. H. White op dit blog.

Uit: The Once and Future King

“The day for the ceremony drew near, the invitations to King Pellinore and Sir Grummore were sent out, and the Wart withdrew himself more and more into the kitchen. “Come on, Wart, old boy,” said Sir Ector ruefully. “I didn’t think you would take it so bad. It doesn’t become you to do this sulkin’.” “I am not sulking,” said the Wart. “I don’t mind a bit and I am very glad that Kay is going to be a knight. Please don’t think I am sulking.” “You are a good boy,” said Sir Ector. “I know you’re not sulkin’ really, but do cheer up. Kay isn’t such a bad stick, you know, in his way. “Kay is a splendid chap,” said the Wart. “Only I was not happy because he did not seem to want to go hawking or anything, with me, any more.” “It is his youthfulness,” said Sir Ector. “It will all clear up.” “I am sure it will,” said the Wart. “It is only that he does not want me to go with him, just at the moment. And so, of course, I don’t go. “But I will go,” added the Wart. “As soon as he commands me, I will do exactly what he says. Honestly, I think Kay is a good person, and I was not sulking a bit.” “You have a glass of this canary,” said Sir Ector, “and go and see if old Merlyn can’t cheer you up.” “Sir Ector has given me a glass of canary,” said the Wart, “and sent me to see if you can’t cheer me up.” “Sir Ector,” said Merlyn, “is a wise man.” “Well,” said the Wart, “what about it?” “The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”

T. H. White (29 mei 1906 – 17 januari 1964)
Cover

 

De Oostenrijkse schrijver en theatercriticus Hans Weigel werd geboren op 29 mei 1908 in Wenen. Zie ook alle tags voor Hans Weigel op dit blog.

Uit:Ich war einmal (Biografie)

„Die Hoffnung vieler Wiener Juden, durch Assimilation Integration zu erreichen, war in der jüdischen Mittelschicht Wiens am Beginn des vorigen Jahrhunderts weit verbreitet. Geradezu exemplarisch zeigte sich diese — wie sich leidvoll herausgestellt hat — Illusion bei Hans Weigels Eltern. Sein Vater Eduard, ältestes Kind von Lazar Weigl und seiner Frau Babette, 1874 in Markt Eisenstein, einem kleinen böhmischen Ort nahe der bayrischen Grenze, geboren, kam schon in den Neunzigerjahren des 19. Jahrhunderts in die Residenzstadt der Monarchie. In Eisenstein, dem heutigen ZeleZnä Ruda, lebten nur zwei jüdische Familien, die als Kaufleute ihr Fortkommen hatten. Lazar Weigl, sein Sohn Eduard fügte erst in den 1920er-Jahren in Wien das „e” in den Namen „Weigl” ein, besaß nicht nur eine Gemischtwarenhandlung, „den Laden”, wie er genannt wurde, sondern auch Felder und Wiesen und führte eine kleine Milchwirtschaft. Er lebte streng nach den jüdischen Gebräuchen: „[…] in seinem Haus wurde koscher gekocht, Geschirr und Besteck für Fleisch und ‚Milchiges’ getrennt — es wurde kein Schweinefleisch zubereitet.”1 Dieser Großvater Lazar, Ludwig, „war ein verständiger, recht kluger Mann, der auch Humor hatte. […] Ich hatte ihn sehr gern, er war stolz auf mich, wie auf seinen Sohn Eduard, der es in Wien weit gebracht hatte”2, als Handelsakademiker bei der Glasfabrik Stölzle, bei der er seine berufliche Laufbahn begonnen hatte und bei der er zuerst als Prokurist und dann als Direktor Karriere machte. So schrieb Hans Weigel in seiner 2008 posthum von seiner Lektorin Elke Vujica herausgegebenen Autobiografie In die weite Welt hinein, in der er sein Leben von 1908 bis 1938 behandelte. Eduard hatte drei jüngere Schwestern: die Älteste, Franziska, genannt Fanni, hatte fünf Kinder: Ernst, Otto, Klara, Emma und Hedwig. Hans Weigel war in den Ferien seiner Volksschulzeit gerne bei ihnen in Chotieschau (Chotä§ov). Die Mittlere lebte mit ihrem Mann Robert Abeles und ihrer Tochter Irma in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary), während Regine, die Jüngste, mit ihrem Mann Emil Siller in Eisenstein blieb, zwei Töchter, Roselle und Mitzi, hatte und mit ihrem Mann das Geschäft von Lazar Weigl übernahm. Der Großvater von Hans Weigel mütterlicherseits, Julius Fekete, war Kaufmann aus dem ungarischen Gyon, heute Dabas, und kam mit seiner Frau Katarina, geborene Boskowitz, schon vor der Jahrhundertwende nach Wien. Sie wohnten in Margareten, dem 5. Wiener Gemeindebezirk, und führten in der nahe gelegenen Schönbrunner Straße 31 das „Zentralversandhaus Julius Fekete”, einen Gemischtwarenhandel. Sie waren typische Vertreter des liberalen jüdischen Bildungsbürgertums, hatten drei Söhne und zwei Töchter. Hugo übernahm als Ältester, der Not gehorchend, das Zentralversandhaus, da sein Vater 1903 mit nicht einmal fünfzig Jahren verstorben war. „Onkel Hugo musste das Geschäft führen, und das war wohl tragisch, denn er war sehr musikalisch, spielte großartig Klavier, war charmant und witzig und hatte gewiß ein unerfülltes Leben. Er mochte mich sehr gern, manchmal saß ich neben ihm, wenn er am Klavier improvisierte.”2 Albert, der mittlere der drei Söhne, lebte als Ingenieur bei den Saurer-Werken in Arbon am Bodensee in der Schweiz. „Der dritte Bruder war Onkel Theo, klein und rundlich, er spielte Geige und war angestellt bei der Filmfirma Projektograph. Er schwärmte von der neuartigen Erfindung und prophezeite ihr eine große Zukunft — und wurde in der Familie nur belächelt.”

Hans Weigel (29 mei 1908 – 12 augustus 1991)

 

De Amerikaanse schrijver Max Brand (eig. Frederick Schiller Faust) werd geboren op 29 mei 1892 in Seattle. Zie ook alle tags voor Max Brand op dit blog.

Uit: The Garden of Eden

“Can’t we walk?” suggested Ben Connor, looking up and down the street at the dozen sprawling frame houses; but the fat man stared at him with calm pity. He was so fat and so good-natured that even Ben Connor did not impress him greatly.
“Maybe you think this is Lukin?” he asked. When the other raised his heavy black eyebrows he explained: “This ain’t nothing but Lukin Junction. Lukin is clear round the hill. Climb in, Mr. Connor.”
Connor laid one hand on the back of the seat, and with a surge of his strong shoulders leaped easily into his place; the fat man noted this with a roll of his little eyes, and then took his own place, the old wagon careening toward him as he mounted the step. He sat with his right foot dangling over the side of the buckboard, and a plump shoulder turned fairly upon his passenger so that when he spoke he had to throw his head and jerk out the words; but this was apparently his time-honored position in the wagon, and he did not care to vary it for the sake of conversation. A flap of the loose reins set the horses jog-trotting out of Lukin Junction down a gulch which aimed at the side of an enormous mountain, naked, with no sign of a village or even a single shack among its rocks. Other peaks crowded close on the right and left, with a loftier range behind, running up to scattered summits white with snow and blue with distance. The shadows of the late afternoon were thick as fog in the gulch, and all the lower mountains were already dim so that the snow-peaks in the distance seemed as detached, and high as clouds. Ben Connor sat with his cane between his knees and his hands draped over its amber head and watched those shining places until the fat man heaved his head over his shoulder.
“Most like somebody told you about Townsend’s Hotel?” His passenger moved his attention from the mountain to his companion. He was so leisurely about it that it seemed he had not heard.
“Yes,” he said, “I was told of the place.” “Who?” said the other expectantly. “A friend of mine.”
The fat man grunted and worked his head around so far that a great wrinkle rolled up his neck close to his ear. He looked into the eye of the stranger.
“Me being Jack Townsend, I’m sort of interested to know things like that; the ones that like my place and them that don’t.”

Max Brand (29 mei 1892 – 12 mei 1944)

De Amerikaanse dichter, schrijver en publicist Joel Benton werd geboren op 29 mei 1832 in het kleine stadje Amenia, in county New York. Zie ook alle tags voor Joel Benton op dit blog.

Grover Cleveland

Bring cypress, rosemary and rue
For him who kept his rudder true;
Who held to right the people’s will,
And for whose foes we love him still.
A man of Plutarch’s marble mould,
Of virtues strong and manifold,
Who spurned the incense of the hour,
And made the nation’s weal his dower.

His sturdy, rugged sense of right
Put selfish purpose out of sight;
Slowly he thought, but long and well,
With temper imperturbable.

Bring cypress, rosemary and rue
For him who kept his rudder true;
Who went at dawn to that high star
Where Washington and Lincoln are.

 Joel Benton (29 mei 1832 – 15 september 1911)

 

Onafhankelijk van geboortedata

De Mexicaanse dichteres en journaliste Dolores Dorantes werd in 1973 geboren in Veracruz aan de Golf van Mexico. Zie ook alle tags voor Dolores Dorantes op dit blog.

Give us a bottle and let’s be done with your world

Give us a bottle and let’s be done with your world. Light us and the fire will spread like a plague. We arrive at your office. At your machine. We arrive at your masterful chair. At that world that is no longer the world. Where nothing touches and we kiss each other. We join our girlish lips damp with some kind of fuel. Give us a forest. Give us the presidency.

This book does not exist

This book does not exist. All that has been said in the name of a love that does not last. Each line dispossessed. The drug that seeing blood has become. Open us in this impossible territory. Unlimited. Repeated. Uncovered. We are here as the trace of a code. We knock on your door for you to swim us. Fire and water. We are inside bottles and explosives. We are extermination. Place without country. Tie us up, put a leash on us. Command us to get out and show me your tongue: a gust of birds.

Dolores Dorantes (Veracruz, 1973)

 

Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 29e mei ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2018 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2016 deel 2.

André Brink, Eduard Escoffet, G. K. Chesterton, Bernard Clavel, T. H. White, Hans Weigel, Alfonsina Storni, Max Brand, Joel Benton

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook alle tags voor André Brink op dit blog.

Uit: A dry white season

“Even if I’m hated, and ostracized, and persecuted, and in the end destroyed, nothing can make me black. And so those who are cannot but remain suspicious of me. In their eyes my very efforts to identify myself with Gordon, with all the Gordons, would be obscene. Every gesture I make, every act I commit in my efforts to help them makes it more difficult for them to define their real needs and discover for themselves their integrity and affirm their own dignity. How else could we hope to arrive beyond predator and prey, helper and helped, white and black, and find redemption?
On the other hand: what can I do but what I have done? I cannot choose not to intervene: that would be a denial and a mockery not only of everything I believe in, but of the hope that compassion may survive among men. By not acting as I did I would deny the very possibility of that gulf to be bridged.
If I act, I cannot but lose. But if I do not act, it is a different kind of defeat, equally decisive and maybe worse. Because then I will not even have a conscience left.
The end seems ineluctable: failure, defeat, loss. The only choice I have left is whether I am prepared to salvage a little honour, a little decency, a little humanity — or nothing. It seems as if a sacrifice is impossible to avoid, whatever way one looks at it. But at least one has the choice between a wholly futile sacrifice and one that might, in the long run, open up a possibility, however negligible or dubious, of something better, less sordid and more noble, for our children…”

 
André Brink (29 mei 1935 – 6 februari 2015)
Begin jaren 1960

 

De Catalaanse dichter, schrijver en vertaler Eduard Escoffet werd geboren op 29 mei 1979 in Barcelona. Zie ook alle tags voor Eduard Escoffet op dit blog.

 

alles egal

die liebe
macht alles kaputt;
sie macht den sex kaputt,
sie zerstört den verstand
und sie bleicht den teint.
sie macht aus den augen ein möbel
und aus dem bett ein anderes möbel
– und zwar eins ums andere mal.
die liebe
macht das flirten kaputt,
sie tötet die masern,
sie tötet den schweifenden blick und
erhöht die moral
hin zu unbekannten neigungen.

die liebe
macht alles kaputt;
sie lässt die stimme rostig werden,
zerstört pläne und panoramablicke,
sie füllt den kaffee mit klumpen und
die adern mit nervenfasern, die sich überschlagen.
die liebe lässt das meer ruhig werden und die landschaften zahmer,
sie lässt die plattfüße platt
und macht platt die härteste rute.

die liebe
macht alles kaputt:
sie bedeckt dir die augen,
und zwischen den vorhängen und fensterläden
vergesse ich mich selbst,
die flüsse sind immer noch flüsse
und ich weiß nicht mehr was tun.

 

Vertaald doorRoger Friedlein

 
Eduard Escoffet (Barcelona, 29 mei 1979)

 

De Engelse dichter, letterkundige, schrijver en journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton werd geboren in Londen op 29 mei 1874. Zie ook alle tags voor G. K. Chesterton en alle tags voor Chesterton op dit blog.

Uit: The Secret Garden (The Complete “Father Brown”)

“I mean,” said little Father Brown, from the corner of the room, “I mean that cigar Mr. Brayne is finishing. It seems nearly as long as a walking-stick.”
Despite the irrelevance there was assent as well as irritation in Valentin’s face as he lifted his head.
“Quite right,” he remarked sharply. “Ivan, go and see about Mr. Brayne again, and bring him here at once.”
The instant the factotum had closed the door, Valentin addressed the girl with an entirely new earnestness.
“Lady Margaret,” he said, “we all feel, I am sure, both gratitude and admiration for your act in rising above your lower dignity and explaining the Commandant’s conduct. But there is a hiatus still. Lord Galloway, I understand, met you passing from the study to the drawing-room, and it was only some minutes afterwards that he found the garden and the Commandant still walking there.”
“You have to remember,” replied Margaret, with a faint irony in her voice, “that I had just refused him, so we should scarcely have come back arm in arm. He is a gentleman, anyhow; and he loitered behind—and so got charged with murder.”
“In those few moments,” said Valentin gravely, “he might really—”
The knock came again, and Ivan put in his scarred face.
“Beg pardon, sir,” he said, “but Mr. Brayne has left the house.”
“Left!” cried Valentin, and rose for the first time to his feet.
“Gone. Scooted. Evaporated,” replied Ivan in humorous French. “His hat and coat are gone, too, and I’ll tell you something to cap it all. I ran outside the house to find any traces of him, and I found one, and a big trace, too.”
“What do you mean?” asked Valentin.
“I’ll show you,” said his servant, and reappeared with a flashing naked cavalry sabre, streaked with blood about the point and edge. Everyone in the room eyed it as if it were a thunderbolt; but the experienced Ivan went on quite quietly:
“I found this,” he said, “flung among the bushes fifty yards up the road to Paris. In other words, I found it just where your respectable Mr. Brayne threw it when he ran away.”
There was again a silence, but of a new sort. Valentin took the sabre, examined it, reflected with unaffected concentration of thought, and then turned a respectful face to O’Brien. “Commandant,” he said, “we trust you will always produce this weapon if it is wanted for police examination. Meanwhile,” he added, slapping the steel back in the ringing scabbard, “let me return you your sword.”

 
G. K. Chesterton (29 mei 1874 – 14 juli 1936)
Mark Williams speelt Father Brown in de BBC-serie vanaf 2013

 

De Franse schrijver Bernard Charles Henri Clavel werd geboren op 29 mei 1923 in Lons-le-Saunier. Zie ook alle tags voor Bernard Clavel op dit blog.

Uit: Les roses de Verdun

« Je suis allé à la porte. La neige tenait. La rue n’était pas déblayée et la voiture de Mme Vallier garée le long du trottoir, un peu plus bas, dans un renfoncement, était blanche. J’ai pensé un instant à la nettoyer, mais comme je ne savais pas quelle décision serait prise, je me suis dit que c’était inutile. Heureusement, elle était venue avec leur plus grosse auto qui était une quinze-chevaux Citroën. Si nous devions partir, sur la neige, la traction avant nous serait très précieuse. Et c’est une voiture que j’aime beaucoup conduire. […]
Ce matin-là encore Monsieur allait m’étonner. Alors que je m’attendais à l’entendre pester contre le mauvais sort qui semblait s’acharner sur nous depuis le début du voyage, lorsqu’il a vu tomber la neige il nous a déclaré:
– Quelle chance que l’Hotchkiss soit cassée, nous serons plus en sécurité dans la traction avec une route pareille.
Mais, au petit déjeuner, il y a eu un très vif accrochage entre les deux femmes et lui. En dépit de l’état des routes et de la piètre visibilité, il s’était mis en tête de pousser jusqu’à Aulnois. Ce qui représentait, en comptant le retour, pas loin de quatre cents kilomètres de plus. Ça me semblait à proprement parler de la folie pure. Fort heureusement, cette empoignade avait dû faire monter sa tension artérielle. Il est devenu rouge et son souffle, de nouveau court et saccadé, l’a obligé à se taire.
– Veux-tu que j’appelle le médecin? a demandé Madame.
Dans un grand effort qui faisait un peu mal à voir car la souffrance se lisait sur ses traits, il est parvenu à gronder:
– Fous-moi la paix avec ce con! Il t’a fait acheter pour une fortune de drogues à foutre aux chiottes… Il doit toucher des ristournes du pharmacien, celui-là… Entre les toubibs qui ne font rien et ceux qui font trop… Les malades qui s’en tirent ont vraiment la peau dure…
– Tais-toi, papa. Tu parles trop. Tu t’essouffles encore plus.
Sa fille lui a pris la main qu’elle a caressée tendrement. Elle lui ressemble. Mince et les traits un peu durs comme lui. Le même grand front. Elle a ajouté d’une voix très douce:
– Tu devrais aller te reposer un moment. Nous ferons les valises et, dès que des voitures auront circulé un peu, on essaiera de partir. S’il faut s’arrêter en route, ce ne sont pas les hôtels qui manquent, entre ici et Lyon. «

 
Bernard Clavel (29 mei 1923 – 5 oktober 2010)
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De Engelse dichter en schrijver Terence Hanbury White werd geboren op 29 mei 1906 in Bombay (Mombai). Zie ook alle tags voor T. H. White op dit blog.

Uit:The Book of Merlyn

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn”.
(…)

“He caught a glimpse of that extraordinary faculty in man, that strange, altruistic, rare, and obstinate decency which will make writers or scientists maintain their truths at the risk of death. Eppur si muove, Galileo was to say; it moves all the same. They were to be in a position to burn him if he would go on with it, with his preposterous nonsense about the earth moving round the sun, but he was to continue with the sublime assertion because there was something which he valued more than himself. The Truth. To recognize and to acknowledge What Is. That was the thing which man could do, which his English could do, his beloved, his sleeping, his now defenceless English. They might be stupid, ferocious, unpolitical, almost hopeless. But here and there, oh so seldome, oh so rare, oh so glorious, there were those all the same who would face the rack, the executioner, and even utter extinction, in the cause of something greater than themselves. Truth, that strange thing, the jest of Pilate’s. Many stupid young men had thought they were dying for it, and many would continue to die for it, perhaps for a thousand years. They did not have to be right about their truth, as Galileo was to be. It was enough that they, the few and martyred, should establish a greatness, a thing above the sum of all they ignorantly had.”

 
T. H. White (29 mei 1906 – 17 januari 1964)
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De Oostenrijkse schrijver en theatercriticus Hans Weigel werd geboren op 29 mei 1908 in Wenen. Zie ook alle tags voor Hans Weigel op dit blog.

Uit: Niemandsland

„Österreich nimmt den Untergang Österreichs nicht zur Kenntnis. Man hört hier auch schon das verhängnisvolle Wort vom “kleineren Übel”, das in Deutschland geprägt worden ist, so lange, bis die Betonung von dem “kleiner” unerheblich immer mehr auf “Übel” gewechselt hatte, so lange, bis das Übel unversehens immer grösser und schliesslich das ganz grosse geworden war. Peter versucht vergeblich darzutun, dass man jedes Übel bekämpfen müsse, ob es nun kleiner oder grösser sei.
Peter kann solche Gespräche nicht mehr hören. Es ist gespenstisch, höllisch, dass man hier das selbe erleben muss wie draussen, einen Staat auf dem selben Weg in den Untergang sehen und ein Volk die selben selbstbetrügerischen Phrasen dazu sagen hören muss, ohne dass man helfen kann, ja ohne dass der dokumentarische Hinweis dieser Gleichartigkeit auch nur zur Kenntnis genommen wird.
Peter fühlt sich erschöpft und völlig leer. Alles, was er, seit er denken kann, erlebt hat, alle Enttäuschung, alle Fragwürdigkeit seiner Existenz und der letzten Tage zumal, alles steigt auf, wächst unerträglich in ihm an und höhlt ihn aus. Kein Erlebnis kann ihn aus dieser Hoffnungslosigkeit reissen, was immer geschieht, wird sie nur bestätigen, falls es unerfreulich, wird sie doppelt grausam machen, wenn es erfreulich ist.“

 
Hans Weigel (29 mei 1908 – 12 augustus 1991)
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De Argentijnse dichteres Alfonsina Storni werd geboren in Sala Capriasca, Zwitserland op 29 mei 1892. Zie ook alle tags voor Alfonsina Storni op dit blog.

 

You Want Me White

You want me to be the dawn
You want me made of seaspray
Made of mother-of-pearl
That I be a lily
Chaste above all others
Of tenuous perfume
A blossom closed

That not even a moonbeam
Might have touched me
Nor a daisy
Call herself my sister
You want me like snow
You want me white
You want me to be the dawn

You who had all
The cups before you
Of fruit and honey
Lips dyed purple
You who in the banquet
Covered in grapevines
Let go of your flesh
Celebrating Bacchus
You who in the dark
Gardens of Deceit
Dressed in red
Ran towards Destruction

You who maintain
Your bones intact
Only by some miracle
Of which I know not
You ask that I be white
(May God forgive you)
You ask that I be chaste
(May God forgive you)
You ask that I be the dawn!

Flee towards the forest
Go to the mountains
Clean your mouth
Live in a hut
Touch with your hands
The damp earth
Feed yourself
With bitter roots
Drink from the rocks
Sleep on the frost
Clean your clothes
With saltpeter and water
Talk with the birds
And set sail at dawn
And when your flesh
Has returned to you
And when you have put
Into it the soul
That through the bedrooms
Became entangled
Then, good man,
Ask that I be white
Ask that I be like snow
Ask that I be chaste

 

Vertaald door Catherine Fountain

 
Alfonsina Storni (29 mei 1892 – 25 oktober 1938)

 

De Amerikaanse schrijver Max Brand (eig. Frederick Schiller Faust) werd geboren op 29 mei 1892 in Seattle. Zie ook alle tags voor Max Brand op dit blog.

Uit: The Garden of Eden

“By careful tailoring the broad shoulders of Ben Connor were made to appear fashionably slender, and he disguised the depth of his chest by a stoop whose model slouched along Broadway somewhere between sunset and dawn. He wore, moreover, the first or second pair of spats that had ever stepped off the train at Lukin Junction, a glowing Scotch tweed, and a Panama hat of the color and weave of fine old linen. There was a skeleton at this Feast of Fashion, however, for only tight gloves could make the stubby fingers and broad palms of Connor presentable. At ninety-five in the shade gloves were out of the question, so he held a pair of yellow chamois in one hand and in the other an amber-headed cane. This was the end of the little spur-line, and while the train backed off down the track, staggering across the switch, Ben Connor looked after it, leaning upon his cane just forcibly enough to feel the flection of the wood. This was one of his attitudes of elegance, and when the train was out of sight, and only the puffs of white vapor rolled around the shoulder of the hill, he turned to look the town over, having already given Lukin Junction ample time to look over Ben Connor.
The little crowd was not through with its survey, but the eye of the imposing stranger abashed it. He had one of those long somber faces which Scotchmen call “dour.” The complexion was sallow, heavy pouches of sleeplessness lay beneath his eyes, and there were ridges beside the corners of his mouth which came from an habitual compression of the lips. Looked at in profile he seemed to be smiling broadly so that the gravity of the full face was always surprising. It was this that made the townsfolk look down. After a moment, they glanced back at him hastily. Somewhere about the corners of his lips or his eyes there was a glint of interest, a touch of amusement–they could not tell which, but from that moment they were willing to forget the clothes and look at the man.
While Ben Connor was still enjoying the situation, a rotund fellow bore down on him.
“You’re Mr. Connor, ain’t you? You wired for a room in the hotel? Come on, then. My rig is over here. These your grips?”
He picked up the suit case and the soft leather traveling bag, and led the way to a buckboard at which stood two downheaded ponies.”

 
Max Brand (29 mei 1892 – 12 mei 1944)
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De Amerikaanse dichter, schrijver en publicist Joel Benton werd geboren op 29 mei 1832 in het kleine stadje Amenia, in county New York. Zie ook alle tags voor Joel Benton op dit blog.

 

The Scarlet Tanager

A all of fire shoots through the tamarack
In scarlet splendor, on voluptuous wings;
Delirious joy the pyrotechnist brings,
Who marks for us high summer’s almanac.
How instantly the red-coat hurtles back!
No fiercer flame has flashed beneath the sky.
Note now the rapture in his cautious eye,
The conflagration lit along his track.
Winged soul of beauty, tropic in desire,
Thy love seems alien in our northern zone;
Thou giv’st to our green lands a burst of fire
And callest back the fables we disown.
The hot equator thou mightst well inspire,
Or stand above some Eastern monarch’s throne.

 
Joel Benton (29 mei 1832 – 15 september 1911)

 

Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 29e mei ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2016 deel 2.

André Brink, Eduard Escoffet, G. K. Chesterton, Bernard Clavel, T. H. White, Hans Weigel, Alfonsina Storni

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook alle tags voor André Brink op dit blog.

Uit: A dry white season

“I had never been so close to death before.
For a long time, as I lay there trying to clear my mind, I couldn’t think coherently at all, conscious only of a terrible, blind bitterness. Why had they singled me out? Didn’t they understand? Had everything I’d gone through on their behalf been utterly in vain? Did it really count for nothing? What had happened to logic, meaning and sense?
But I feel much calmer now. It helps to discipline oneself like this, writing it down to see it set out on paper, to try and weigh it and find some significance in it.
Prof Bruwer: There are only two kinds of madness one should guard against, Ben. One is the belief that we can do everything. The other is the belief that we can do nothing.
I wanted to help. Right. I meant it very sincerely. But I wanted to do it on my terms. And I am white, and they are black. I thought it was still possible to reach beyond our whiteness and blackness. I thought that to reach out and touch hands across the gulf would be sufficient in itself. But I grasped so little, really: as if good intentions from my side could solve it all. It was presumptuous of me. In an ordinary world, in a natural one, I might have succeeded. But not in this deranged, divided age. I can do all I can for Gordon or scores of others who have come to me; I can imagine myself in their shoes, I can project myself into their suffering. But I cannot, ever, live their lives for them. So what else could come of it but failure?
Whether I like it or not, whether I feel like cursing my own condition or not — and that would only serve to confirm my impotence — I am white. This is the small, final, terrifying truth of my broken world. I am white. And because I am white I am born into a state of privilege. Even if I fight the system that has reduced us to this I remain white, and favored by the very circumstances I abhor“.

 
André Brink (29 mei 1935 – 6 februari 2015)
Hier met J.M. Coetzee (links)

Lees verder “André Brink, Eduard Escoffet, G. K. Chesterton, Bernard Clavel, T. H. White, Hans Weigel, Alfonsina Storni” →

Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Hans Weigel, Max Brand, Anne d’Orléans de Montpensier, Alfonsina Storni, Till Mairhofer

De Iraanse filmregisseur en schrijver Mohsen Makhmalbāf werd geboren op 29 mei 1957 in Teheran. Zie ook alle tags voor Mohsen Makhmalbāf op dit blog.

Uit: Le Jardin de cristal (Vertaald door Vincent Despagnet)

«Lâyeh arpentait la pièce, une main sur les reins. Douleur. Délire.
Une brebis met bas. Les filles font cercle autour, soucieuses. Elle souffre. Les filles restent immobiles. Il ne faut pas s’immiscer dans le travail de la nature. L’animal agnelle à l’écart, seul à endurer le mal. Un instant de répit. Le temps de brouter un peu, d’oublier. Puis de nouveau les muscles se contractent. Plus fort qu’avant. Les pattes se dérobent. Le malaise et la détresse de la brebis couchée sur le flanc se mêlent à ceux de la jeune femme, qui s’allonge en geignant. Au paroxysme de la souffrance, les pattes de l’agneau apparaissent à l’extrémité du ventre de la femelle. Nouvel être donné au monde: voici ton univers! Il est à toi! Réjouis-toi! Mais pour un instant seulement, car le moment d’avoir la gorge tranchée approche ! Broute, afin de devenir beau et gras.»

 
Mohsen Makhmalbāf (Teheran, 29 mei 1957)

Lees verder “Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Hans Weigel, Max Brand, Anne d’Orléans de Montpensier, Alfonsina Storni, Till Mairhofer” →

André Brink, G. K. Chesterton, Eduard Escoffet, Leah Goldberg, Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Hans Weigel

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008.en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2010.

Uit: A dry white season

 

„It all really began, as far as Ben was concerned, with the death of Gordon Ngubene. But from the notes he made subsequently, and from newspaper cuttings, it is obvious that the matter went back much further. At least as far as the death of Gordon’s son Jonathan at the height of the youth riots in Soweto. And even beyond that, to the day, two years earlier — represented in Ben’s papers by a receipt with a brief note scribbled on it when he’d started contributing to the schooling of the then fifteen year old Jonathan.

Gordon was the black cleaner in the school where Ben taught History and Geography to the senior classes. In the older journals there are occasional references to “Gordon N.” or just “Gordon”; and from time to time one finds, in Ben’s fastidious financial statements, entries like “Gordon — R5.oo”; or “Received from Gordon (repayment) — R5.00”, etc. Sometimes Ben gave him special instructions about notes on his blackboard; on other occasions he approached him for small personal jobs. Once, when some money disappeared from the classrooms and one or two of the teachers immediately blamed Gordon for it, it was Ben who took the cleaner under his wing and instituted inquiries which revealed a group of matric boys to be the culprits. From that day Gordon took it upon himself to wash Ben’s car once a week. And when, after Linda’s difficult birth, Susan was out ofaction for some time, it was Gordon’s wife Emily who helped them out with housework.

As they came to know each other better Ben discovered more about Gordon’s background. As a young boy he had arrived from the Transkei with his parents when his father had found employment in the City Deep Mine. And since he showed interest in reading and writing from an early age he was sent to school — no cheap or easy undertaking for a man in his father’s position. Gordon made steady progress until he’d passed Standard Two, but then his father died in a rockfall in the mine and Gordon had to leave school and start working to supplement his mother’s meagre income as a domestic servant.“

 

André Brink (Vrede, 29 mei 1935)

Lees verder “André Brink, G. K. Chesterton, Eduard Escoffet, Leah Goldberg, Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Hans Weigel” →

André Brink, G. K. Chesterton, Eduard Escoffet, Leah Goldberg, Mohsen Makhmalbāf, Hans Weigel, T. H. White

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008.en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009.

 

Uit: A Fork in the Road

 

“It is now more than forty years since Ingrid Jonker died, yet, through her poetry, there may be more people to whom she is a living presence than she was during her short lifetime. In other respects she may be more remote than ever. She was drowned in the night of 19 July, 1965 when she walked into the fiercely cold Atlantic Ocean at Three Anchor Bay in Cape Town, and moved straight into myth. The myth of the maligned, rejected, abused, misunderstood nymph of sea and sun who had foretold her death in her poetry since she’d been a teenager, finally canonised when Nelson Mandela read her poem ‘The Child’ at his inauguration in parliament in May 1994. How little could we, could anybody, have expected this life after death in that dark time when she opted out of the world?

Until recently, I have chosen not to be drawn into discussions or evocations of her life, notably in documentary films, some unforgivably bad. But precisely because of these I have begun to believe that perhaps I owe it to her at last to unfold, without drama or melodrama, some of the things I have kept to myself. Not the icon but the person. The woman I loved. And who nearly drove me mad. In some respects, it should be done to set the record straight; in others, simply to remember. To hold on.

There is a photo of that sad, obscene funeral, four days after her death, with family massed in a dour black bank on one side of the grave and windswept friends on the other. Her long-time lover Jack Cope tried to jump into the grave like a latter-day Laertes, and everything threatened to implode in low drama. What strikes me when I look at it today, is the realisation that almost everyone in that photo, in fact, everyone involved with Ingrid in one way or another, is now dead. Her father, the arrogant loser, followed her to the grave within a few months. Jack, who knew, as I did, the agony of being with her and constantly losing her, and who faced, long before I had to, the dread of growing old, is dead. Uys Krige, the perennial golden boy of South African letters and the one who averted the most vulgar of explosions on the day of the funeral, is dead too – unbelievable as it still seems to all of us who have heard him reciting poetry or talking non-stop in five languages. Jan Rabie, beachcomber and romantic, the first modern writer of Afrikaans fiction, is dead.”

 

Brink

André Brink (Vrede, 29 mei 1935)

 

 

De Engelse letterkundige, schrijver en journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton werd geboren in Londen op 29 mei 1874. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009.

 

Uit: The Wisdom of Father Brown

 

„The consulting-rooms of Dr Orion Hood, th
e eminent criminologist and specialist in certain moral disorders, lay along the sea-front at Scarborough, in a series of very large and well-lighted french windows, which showed the North Sea like one endless outer wall of blue-green marble. In such a place the sea had something of the monotony of a blue-green dado: for the chambers themselves were ruled throughout by a terrible tidiness not unlike the terrible tidiness of the sea. It must not be supposed that Dr Hood’s apartments excluded luxury, or even poetry. These things were there, in their place; but one felt that they were never allowed out of their place. Luxury was there: there stood upon a special table eight or ten boxes of the best cigars; but they were built upon a plan so that the strongest were always nearest the wall and the mildest nearest the window. A tantalum containing three kinds of spirit, all of a liqueur excellence, stood always on this table of luxury; but the fanciful have asserted that the whisky, brandy, and rum seemed always to stand at the same level. Poetry was there: the left-hand corner of the room was lined with as complete a set of English classics as the right hand could show of English and foreign physiologists. But if one took a volume of Chaucer or Shelley from that rank, its absence irritated the mind like a gap in a man’s front teeth. One could not say the books were never read; probably they were, but there was a sense of their being chained to their places, like the Bibles in the old churches. Dr Hood treated his private book-shelf as if it were a public library. And if this strict scientific intangibility steeped even the shelves laden with lyrics and ballads and the tables laden with drink and tobacco, it goes without saying that yet more of such heathen holiness protected the other shelves that held the specialist’s library, and the other tables that sustained the frail and even fairylike instruments of chemistry or mechanics.

Dr Hood paced the length of his string of apartments, bounded– as the boys’ geographies say–on the east by the North Sea and on the west by the serried ranks of his sociological and criminologist library. He was clad in an artist’s velvet, but with none of an artist’s negligence; his hair was heavily shot with grey, but growing thick and healthy; his face was lean, but sanguine and expectant. Everything about him and his room indicated something at once rigid and restless, like that great northern sea by which (on pure principles of hygiene) he had built his home.“

 

chesterton

G. K. Chesterton (29 mei 1874 – 14 juli 1936)

 

De Catalaanse dichter, schrijver en vertaler Eduard Escoffet werd geboren op 29 mei 1979 in Barcelona in 1979. Zie ook mijn blog van 11 juni 2009.

tag der unschuldigen kinder

nur noch ein halber übrig ist und das geschirr in der spüle stehen bleibt.
immer noch in der spüle: hast du denn nicht gesehen, dass das geschirr
auf deine hände wartet und darauf, dass du es gleiten lässt in
seifenschaum und sauberkeit? das schon, die liebe rührt nicht mal der liebe
gott an. nur das ganze jahr lang der pausenlose nieselregen:
schmeicheleien und hochgezogene schultern, geheilt durch ein wenig
distanz. flüsse hinter den fensterläden. hast du die liebe gewonnen,
versüßen dir die wurmigsten würmer mit verachtung dein gärtchen. und
das, aber immerhin, ist schon alles.

 

Vertaald door Roger Friedlein

escofet

Eduard Escoffet (Barcelona, 29 mei 1979)

 

 

De Hebreeuwse dichteres, schrijfster en letterkundige Leah Goldberg werd geboren in Königsberg (Pruisen) op 29 mei 1911. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009.

 

Un pin

 

Ici je n’entendrai plus le chant du coucou.

Ici l’arbre ne se couvrira pas d’un manteau de neige,

Et pourtant c’est à l’ombre de ces pins

que mon enfance a ressuscité

 

au son des aiguilles: il était une fois…

J’appellerai patrie l’étendue des neiges,

la glace verdâtre entourant le cours d’eau

la langue du poème dans un pays étranger.

 

Peut-être que seuls les oiseaux migrateurs connaissent

lorsqu’ils sont suspendus entre ciel et terre

la douleur de deux patries

 

avec vous j’ai été plantée deux fois

avec vous les pins j’ai poussé

et mes racines, dans deux paysages différents.

 

 

Vertaald door Esther Orner

 

 

A Night Song

 

All the stars were hidden away
The moon is wrapped in black
From the North to Yemen in the South
There is no ray of light

 

The morning is a faithful widower
On its hips it wears a grey bag
From the North to Yemen in the South

 

There is no ray of light

 

Please light a white candle in my heart’s black tent
From the North to Yemen in the South
The light will shine

 

LeaGoldberg_stamp

Leah Goldberg (29 mei 1911 –  15 januari 1970)

 

 

De Iraanse filmregisseur en schrijver Mohsen Makhmalbāf werd geboren op 29 mei 1957 in Teheran. Zijn familie was arm en tussen zijn 8e en zijn 17e levensjaar had Moshen al 13 verschillende baantjes gehad. In 1974 werd hij gearresteerd omdat hij geprobeerd had een politieagent te ontwapenen. Pas na de revolutie van 1979 werd hij vrijgelaten. Hij bemoeide zich niet meer met de politiek en begon boeken te schrijven en films te maken. Sindsdien heeft hij zevenentwintig boeken gepubliceerd. Zijn films zijn in meer dan veetig landen vertoond. In Iran zijn diverse films echter verboden.

 

Uit: Limbs of no body (Artikel in The Iranian, 20 juni 2001)

 

„Afghanistan is a country with no images, for various reasons. Afghan women are faceless which means 10 million out of the 20 million population don’t get a chance to be seen. A nation, half of which is not even seen by its own women, is a nation without an image.

During the last few years there has been no television broadcasting. There are only a few two-page newspapers by the names of Shariat, Heevad and Anise that have only text and no pictures. This is the sum total of the media in Afghanistan. Painting and photography have also been prohibited in the name of religion. In addition, no journalists are allowed to enter Afghanistan, let alone take pictures.

In the dawn of the 21st century there are no film productions or movie theatres in Afghanistan. Previously there were 14 cinemas that showed Indian movies and film studios had small productions imitating Indian movies but that too has vanished.

In the world of cinema where thousands of films are made every year, nothing is forthcoming from Afghanistan. Hollywood, however, produced “Rambo” about war in Afghanistan. The whole movie was filmed in Hollywood and not one Afghan was included. The only authentic scene was Rambo’s presence in Peshawar, Pakistan, thanks to the art of back projection! It was merely employed for action sequences and creating excitement. Is this Hollywood’s image of a country where 10 percent of the people have been decimated and 30 percent have become refugees and where currently one million are dying of hunger?

The Russians produced two films concerning the memoirs of Russian soldiers during the occupation of Afghanistan. The Mujahedin made a few films after the Russian retreat, which are essentially propaganda movies and not a real image of the situation of the past or present-day Afghanistan. They are basically a heroic picture of a few Afghans fighting in the deserts.

Two feature films have been produced in Iran on the situation of Afghan immigrants, “Friday” and “Rain”. I made two films “The Cyclist” and “Kandahar”. This is the entire catalogue of images about Afghans in the Iranian and world media. Even in TV productions worldwide there are a limited number of documentaries. Perhaps, it is an external and internal conspiracy or universal ignorance that maintains Afghanistan as a country without an image.“

 

Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbāf (Teheran, 29 mei 1957)

 

 

De Oostenrijkse schrijver en theatercriticus Hans Weigel werd geboren op 29 mei 1908 in Wenen. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009.

 

Uit: Sympathieadresse ans Volk der Hirten (Bespreking van “Lern dieses Volk der Hirten kennen” door Walter Widmer in Die Zeit)

 

“Was hülfe es diesen Unbelehrbaren, wenn sie erführen, daß in der Schweiz die Bundesräte, also die Minister, mit der Straßenbahn fahren, daß ein Kompetenzstreit der Minister um die Größe eines Standers ein gesamtschweizerisches Gelächter auslösen würde? Was sagt es deutschen Juristen, wenn sie hören, daß ein hochgeachteter, sehr beliebter Gerichtspräsident zurücktreten mußte, weil er aus Versehen ein Päckchen Zigaretten eingesteckt hatte und die Verkäuferin — freilich eine Pfundskuh! — ihn des Diebstahls bezichtigte? Was hilft es zu wissen, daß ein Nationalrat und Chefredakteur einer großen Zeitung unbarmherzig ins Kittchen flog, weil er in angeheitertem Zustand einen Verkehrsunfall verursachte, sich dann auf seinen Titel und Stand berief und den Polizisten frech kam?

Ich fürchte, unser — der Schweizer — Verhältnis zum Staat wird bei deutschen Lesern mancherorts auf Unverständnis stoßen, obschon Hans Weigel es trefflich formuliert hat: „Die Schweizer sehen den Staat nicht als ein dräuendes Feindseliges irgendwo oben. Wenn sie sich, mit ihm auseinandersetzen, dann auf gleicher Ebene, sofern sie nicht auf ihn hinabsehen, ganz echt, aus Überzeugung. Der Staat, nämlich seine legislativen und exekutiven Organe, das ist nur ein notwendiges Übel, nicht ein Moloch, der sie beherrscht, sondern ihr Untertan. Die Schweizer haben keinen Respekt vor den Repräsentanten des Staats. Solche muß es geben, aber das ist kein Grund, ihnen zu huldigen, sie zu verehren oder Angst vor ihnen zu empfinden.” Oder: „Demokratie besteht nicht im Vermeiden, sondern im fairen Austragen von Konflikten und Skandalen.. Die Demokratie ist nicht unvollkommen, wenn etwas passiert, sondern erst dann, wenn -daraus nicht die entsprechenden Konsequenzen gezogen werden.” Es ist keine Kapuzinerpredigt, sondern eine nüchterne Bilanz der Fakten, die in der Schweiz gelten.”

 

weigel

Hans Weigel (29 mei 1908 – 12 augustus 1991)

 

 

De Engelse schrijver Terence Hanbury White werd geboren op 29 mei 1906 in Bombay (Mombai). Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2009.

 

Uit: The Sword in the Stone

 

“How does one get hold of a sword?” he continued. “Where can I steal one? Could I waylay some knight, even if I am mounted on an ambling pad, and take his weapons by force? There must be some swordsmith or armorer in a great town like this, whose shop would still be open.”

He turned his mount and cantered off along the street.

There was a quiet churchyard at the end of it, with a kind of square in front of the church door. In the middle of the square there was a heavy stone with an anvil on it, and a fine new sword was struck through the anvil.

“Well,” said the Wart, “I suppose it’s some sort of war memorial, but it will have to do. I am quite sure nobody would grudge Kay a war memorial, if they knew his desperate straits.”

He tied his reins round a post of the lych-gate, strode up the gravel path, and took hold of the sword.

“Come, sword,” he said. “I must cry your mercy and take you for a better cause.”

“This is extraordinary,” said the Wart. “I feel queer when I have hold of this sword, and I notice everything much more clearly. Look at the beautiful gargoyles of this church, and of the monastery which it belongs to. See how splendidly all the famous banners in the aisle are waving. How nobly that yew holds up the red flakes of its timbers to worship God. How clean the snow is. I can smell smothing like fetherfew and sweet briar – and is that music that I hear?”

It was music, whether or pan-pipes or of recorders, and the light in the churchyard was so clear, without being dazzling, that you could have picked a pin out twenty yards away.

“There is something in this place,” said the Wart. “There are people here. Oh, people, what do you want?”

Nobody answered him, but the music was loud and the light beautiful.”

 

white2

T. H. White (29 mei 1906 – 17 januari 1964)

 


Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 29e mei ook mijn vorige blog van vandaag.

 

 

André Brink, G. K. Chesterton, Leah Goldberg, Till Mairhofer, Hans Weigel, T. H. White, Bernard Clavel, Anne d’Orléans de Montpensier, Reinout Verbeke

De Zuid-Afrikaanse schrijver André Brink werd geboren op 29 mei 1935 in Vrede. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008.

 

Uit: Surprise Visit

 

“There is no one at the reception desk to welcome him. This suits him perfectly. One can only assess the standard of care-giving in an old-age home if they aren’t alerted to your coming. Even more important is that he wants to surprise her. He has something to tell her, something he has spent a lifetime looking for and which he must share with her. It is now almost two years since his last visit. One doesn’t feel good about these long intervals, but what else can one do? Princeton is not exactly round the corner from Cape Town. And, anyway, his sister Jolene is living right here in the city, close by, in Claremont, and since her husband’s death she hasn’t had much to occupy her. In any case, it isn’t as if Mum is really aware of what is going on around her. For at least three years now, since the last stroke, she has just been lying here. Waiting. For ‐ well. Still has some lucid moments, says Jolene, but fewer and further between. Hardly ever recognises anybody.

He goes through the reception area to the corridor, where he quickly makes sure that nobody is approaching from either end. Then, following Jolene’s instructions, he turns right. The last time he visited her was with his family, just before they left the country. Her room was to the left then, three doors down. But the home likes to shift them around. A change of scenery? Hardly. His own feeling is that the old people ‐ Mum, undoubtedly ‐ find these shifts deeply distressing. Every time it becomes a radical displacement. As bad as those moves in his youth, from one town to the next, as the bank authorities in their wisdom transferred them across the map of the country. Every time a new school, new friends, new teachers, new everything.”

 

Andre_Brink

André Brink (Vrede, 29 mei 1935)

 

 

De Engelse letterkundige, schrijver en journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton werd geboren in Londen op 29 mei 1874. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008.

Uit: Father Brown. The Essential Tales

“Between the silver ribbon of morning and the green glittering ribbon of sea, the boat touched Harwich and let loose a swarm of folk like flies, among whom the man we must follow was by no means conspicuous—nor wished to be. There was nothing notable about him, except a slight contrast between the holiday gaiety of his clothes and the official gravity of his face. His clothes included a slight, pale grey jacket, a white waistcoat, and a silver straw hat with a grey-blue ribbon. His lean face was dark by contrast, and ended in a curt black beard that looked Spanish and suggested an Elizabethan ruff. He was smoking a cigarette with the seriousness of an idler. There was nothing about him to indicate the fact that the grey jacket covered a loaded revolver, that the white waistcoat covered a police card, or that the straw hat covered one of the most powerful intellects in Europe. For this was Valentin himself, the head of the Paris police and the most famous investiga
tor of the world; and he was coming from Brussels to London to make the greatest arrest of the century.
Flambeau was in England. The police of three countries had tracked the great criminal at last from Ghent to Brussels, from Brussels to the Hook of Holland; and it was conjectured that he would take some advantage of the unfamiliarity and confusion of the Eucharistic Congress, then taking place in London. Probably he would travel as some minor clerk or secretary connected with it; but, of course, Valentin could not be certain; nobody could be certain about Flambeau.

It is many years now since this colossus of crime suddenly ceased, keeping the world in a turmoil; and when he ceased, as they said after the death of Roland, there was a great quiet upon the earth. But in his best days (I mean, of course, his worst) Flambeau was a figure as statuesque and international as the Kaiser. Almost every morning the daily paper announced that he had escaped the consequences of one extraordinary crime by committing another. He was a Gascon of gigantic stature and bodily daring; and the wildest tales were told of his outbursts of athletic humour; how he turned the juge d’instruction upside down and stood him on his head, “to clear his mind”; how he ran down the Rue de Rivoli with a policeman under each arm.“

 

Gilbert_Keith_Chesterton2

G. K. Chesterton (29 mei 1874 – 14 juli 1936)

 

 

De Hebreeuwse dichteres, schrijfster en letterkundige Leah Goldberg werd geboren in Königsberg (Pruisen) op 29 mei 1911. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007 en ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008.

THE TREE SINGS TO THE RIVER

He who carried my golden autumn,
Swept away my blood with the leaf fall,
He who shall see my spring when it returns
To him with the turning of the year.

My brother, the river, who is forever lost,
New each day and different and one,
My brother the stream between his two shores
Who flows as I do between spring and fall.

 

For I am the bud and I am the fruit,
I am my future and I am my past,
I am the solitary tree trunk,
And you — you are my time and my song.

 

 

THE GIRL SINGS TO THE RIVER

To where will the stream carry my small face?
Why is he tearing my eyes?
My home is far away in a pine grove,
Sad is the swishing of my pines.

The river seduced me with a joyous song
Caroled and called me by my name,
I went to him, following the sound,
I abandoned my m
other’s house.

I am her only child, tender in years
And a cruel river is before me —
To where is he carrying my small face?
Why is he tearing my eyes?

 

Goldberg

Leah Goldberg (29 mei 1911 –  15 januari 1970)

 

 

De Oostenrijkse dichter, schrijver en uitgever Till Mairhofer werd geboren op 29 mei 1958 in Steyr. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2008

Wohin

w o h i n
sich die wortlosen wenden
weiß auch die nacht nicht
die sie verliert

denn diese nacht
reicht für ihr dunkel nicht aus
auch ist kein morgen
welcher sie ruft

fliehend erhellt
von der gegenwart schein
stürzen sie
durch die zeit

 

mairhofer

Till Mairhofer (Steyr, 29 mei 1958)

 

 

De Oostenrijkse schrijver en theatercriticus Hans Weigel werd geboren op 29 mei 1908 in Wenen. De jaren tussen 1938 en 1945 bracht hij door in ballingschap in Zwitserland. Samen met Friedrich Torberg was hij jarenlang verantwoordelijk voor een boycot van Bertold Brecht in de Oostenrijkse theaters omdat hij diens communistische wereldbeschouwing afwees. Tussen 1951 en 1954 gaf hij een serie bloemlezingen uit, waarin hij jonge schrijvers als Ingeborg Bachmann en Gerhard Fritsch introduceerde.

Uit: Niemandsland

“Österreich nimmt den Untergang Österreichs nicht zur Kenntnis. Man hört hier auch schon das verhängnisvolle Wort vom “kleineren Übel”, das in Deutschland geprägt worden ist, so lange, bis die Betonung von dem “kleiner” unerheblich immer mehr auf “Übel” gewechselt hatte, so lange, bis das Übel unversehens immer grösser und schliesslich das ganz grosse geworden war. Peter versucht vergeblich darzutun, dass man jedes Übel bekämpfen müsse, ob es nun kleiner oder grösser sei.

Peter kann solche Gespräche nicht mehr hören. Es ist gespenstisch, höllisch, dass man hier das selbe erleben muss wie draussen, einen Staat auf dem selben Weg in den Untergang sehen und ein Volk die selben selbstbetrügerischen Phrasen dazu sagen hören muss, ohne dass man helfen kann, ja ohne dass der dokumentarische Hinweis dieser Gleichartigkeit auch nur zur Kenntnis genommen wird.

Peter fühlt sich erschöpft und völlig leer. Alles, was er, seit er denken kann, erlebt hat, alle Enttäuschung, alle Fragwürdigkeit seiner Existenz und der letzten Tage zumal, alles steigt auf, wächst unerträglich in ihm an und höhlt ihn aus. Kein Erlebnis kann ihn aus dieser Hoffnungslosigkeit reissen, was immer geschieht, wird sie nur bestätigen, falls es unerfreulich, wird sie doppelt grausam machen, wenn es erfreulich ist.”

weigel

Hans Weigel (29 mei 1908 – 12 augustus 1991)

 

 

De Engelse schrijver Terence Hanbury (Tim) White werd geboren op 29 mei 1906 in Bombay (Mombai). Hij studeerde in Cheltenham en Cambridge. Hij is bekend geworden met zijn verhalenepos rond Koning Arthur, The Once and Future King, voor het eerst gepubliceerd in 1958. Het is in het Nederlands vertaald door Max Schuchart onder de titel “Arthur, Koning voor eens en altijd”. Een ander boek van White is “The Goshawk” (1951), een roman over het temmen en trainen van een havik voor de valkenjacht, gebaseerd op echte gebeurtenissen.

 

Uit: The Once and Future King

 

“When God had manufactured all the eggs out of which the fishes and the serpents and the birds and the mammals and even the duck-billed platypus would eventually emerge, He called the embryos before him, and saw that they were good.

Perhaps I ought to explain,’ added the badger, lowering his papers nervously and looking at Wart over the top of them, ’that all embryos look very much the same. They are what you are before you are born – and, whether you are going to be a tadpole or a peacock or a cameleopard or a man, when you are an embryo you just look like a peculiarly repulsive and helpless human being. I continue as follows:

The embryos stood in front of God, with their feeble hands clasped politely over their stomachs and their heavy heads hanging down respectfully, and God addressed them.”

thwhite

T. H. White (29 mei 1906 – 17 januari 1964)

 

De Franse schrijver Bernard Charles Henri Clavel werd geboren op 29 mei 1923 in Lons-le-Saunier. Clavel is een autodidact die diverse baantjes had totdat hij in de jaren vijftig als journalist begon te werken. Na de oorlog werkte hij voor een verzekering en pas in 1964 kon hij zich geheel wijden aan het schrijven. Zijn eerste roman L’Ouvrier de la nuit verscheen in 1956.

Uit: Les roses de Verdun

« Ce soir-là, j’ai senti qu’il serait plus convenable de ma part de laisser mes patrons en famille. Vers sept heures, j’ai demandé si je pouvais disposer.
– Mais il faut que vous mangiez, Laubier, a tonné Monsieur. Vous n’allez pas me laisser tomber. C’est indigne d’un poilu!
– Je n’ai pas faim, Monsieur, et j’aimerais aller au cinéma. J’ai vu qu’on donne Les gueux au paradis. J’aime bien Fernandel et Raimu.
Monsieur m’a lancé:
– C’est parfait, mon petit. Mais n’allez pas courir la gueuse. Ça ne mène pas au paradis et je veux vous avoir en forme demain matin.
Je crois qu’ils ont compris que je me retirais par discrétion et apprécié mon attitude.
Il ne pleuvait plus. Il faisait beaucoup plus froid. Une bise aigre prenait la rue en enfilade. Le cinéma n’était pas loin, mais j’étais très en avance. Je suis entré dans un café où j’ai bu un canon de rouge en mangeant une curieuse petite tarte salée achetée dans la charcuterie voisine. Il n’y avait pas grand monde dans ce bistro. Seulement des habitués. Ils parlaient au patron, gros homme rouge qui boitait bas. Quatre vieux jouaient aux cartes en se chamaillant. Quand le patron m’a servi, il a regardé ma boutonnière.
– Alors, on vient revoir les anciens?
Il m’a demandé dans quel régiment j’avais servi, j’ai répondu, et deux hommes sont entrés, qu’il a rejoints. J’étais soulagé qu’il me laisse tranquille. Il ne pouvait pas mieux dire quand il parlait de revoir les anciens. Depuis que j’avais quitté l’hôtel, ils étaient tous après moi, mes copains. Surtout les morts. C’était curieux, car ils ne faisaient pratiquement rien. Ils se contentaient d’être des visages sous des képis ou des casques. Et sous pas mal de boue brune aussi. »

Clavel

Bernard Clavel (Lons-le-Saunier, 29 mei 1923)

 

 

De Franse schrijfster Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, hertogin van Montpensier, werd geboren op 29 mei 1627 in Parijs. Zie ook mijn blog van 29 mei 2007.

 

Uit: MÉMOIRES DE MLLE DE MONTPENSIER

“Le commencement du malheur de ma maison arriva peu après ma naissance (29 mai 1627), puisqu’elle fut suivie de la mort de ma mère 1 : ce qui a bien diminué de la bonne fortune que le rang que je tiens me devoit faire attendre. Les grands biens que ma mère a laissés à sa mort, et dont je suis seule héritière, pouvoient bien, dans l’opinion de la plupart du monde, me consoler de l’avoir perdue. Pour moi, qui conçois aujourd’hui de quel avantage m’auroient été ses soins dans mon éducation, et son crédit, joint à sa tendresse, dans mon établissement, je ne saurois assez regretter sa perte.

Bientôt après qu’elle fut morte, on fit ma maison, et l’on me donna un équipage bien plus grand que n’en a jamais eu aucune fille de France, même pas une de mes tantes, les reines d’Espagne2 et d’Angleterre3 et la duchesse de Savoie4, avant que d’être mariées. La reine, ma grand’mère5, me donna pour gouvernant madame la marquise de Saint-Georges6, de qui le mari étoit de la maison de Clermont d’Amboise ; elle étoit fille de madame la marquise de Montglat, qui avoit été gouvernant du feu roi, de Monsieur, de feu mon oncle7 le duc d’Orléans, et de toutes mes tantes ; et c’étoit une personne de beaucoup de vertu, d’esprit et de mérite, qui connoissoit parfaitement bien la cour. »

Montpensier

Anne d’Orléans de Montpensier (29 mei 1627 – 5 april 1693)

 

 

Onafhankelijk van geboortedata:

 

De Vlaamse dichter Reinout Verbeke werd geboren in 1981. Hij won al heel jong de Anton Van Wilderodeprijs en daarna nog diverse prijzen. Gedichten van hem werden opgenomen in tijdschriften als  Dietsche Warande en Belfort, Gierik, De Brakke Hond, KFV-Mededelingen, Ambrozijn  en in de bloemlezing ” Op het oog. 21 dichters voor de 21e eeuw “.  Hij is de organisator van het poëziefestival Literaire Living en treedt sinds 2007 onder de naam Reinout met Nevenwerking op met muziek en poëzie.  Professioneel werkt hij bij het maandblad EOS, waarvan hij enkele jaren eindredacteur is geweest en nu ‘ Nieuwscoördinator on line’

 

Axon

 

ik heb een zwemster in mijn lijf

ze peddelt traag mijn lichaam

door

tikt randen die geen randen zi
jn

maar volgehouden

randgedachten

 

bloedgeil word ik daarvan

ze is mijn onderhuidse gast

ze is een zenuw op de tast

een axon zonder plan

 

zwemmen is niet het water

mennen

maar altijd verliezen van

 

ik heb een zwemster in mijn lijf

gevoeld

ze zwom de gedachte los

aan een rand, spoelde aan in een

spier

 

ReinoutVerbeke

Reinout Verbeke (1981)