Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈɦɑriˈmulɪɕ];[1] 29 July 1927 – 30 October 2010)[2] was a Dutch writer. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections.[2] Mulisch's works have been translated into 38 languages so far.[3]
Harry Mulisch and Sjoerdje Woudenberg on their wedding day in 1971Mulisch in 2010
Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch was born on 29 July 1927 inHaarlem in the Netherlands. Mulisch's father was fromAustria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War.[2] During the German occupation inWorld War II his father worked for a German bank which also dealt with confiscated Jewish assets.[2] His mother, Alice Schwarz, wasJewish. Mulisch and his mother escaped transportation to aconcentration camp thanks to Mulisch's father's collaboration with theNazis, but his maternal grandmother was killed in a gas chamber.[2] Mulisch was raised largely by his parents' housemaid, Frieda Falk.[2] Mulisch said of himself, he did not just write about World War II, he was WWII.[2][6]
Mulisch lived inAmsterdam from 1958 until his death in 2010.[7]
Mulisch had two daughters, his daughters Frieda and Anna, with his wife Sjoerdje Woudenberg, and a son, Menzo, from his relationship with Kitty Saal.[8]
Mulisch died in 2010. His death occurred at his Amsterdam home and his family was with him at the time.[2][3] Dutch prime ministerMark Rutte described his death as "a loss for Dutch literature and the Netherlands".[5] Culture ministerHalbe Zijlstra bemoaned the demise of the "Big Three" asGerard Reve andWillem Frederik Hermans had already died.[5] Marlise Simons ofThe New York Times said his "gift for writing with clarity about moral and philosophical themes made him an enormously influential figure in the Netherlands and earned him recognition abroad".[2]The L Magazine's Mark Ashe quoted the American editions of his novels by referring to him as "Holland's Greatest Author" and "Holland's most important postwar writer".[9]
Mulisch gained international recognition with the filmThe Assault (1986), based on his bookof the same title (1982). It received anOscar and aGolden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated into more than twenty languages.
His novelThe Discovery of Heaven (1992) is considered his masterpiece and was voted "the best Dutch-language book ever" by Dutch readers in a 2007 newspaper poll.[2] "It is the book that shaped our generation; it made us love, even obsess, with reading", said Peter-Paul Spanjaard, 32, a lawyer in Amsterdam at the time of Mulisch's death.[2] It was filmed in 2001 asThe Discovery of Heaven byJeroen Krabbé, starringStephen Fry.
Among the many awards he received for individual works and his total body of work, the most important is thePrijs der Nederlandse Letteren (Prize of Dutch Literature, a lifetime achievement award) in 1995.[10]
A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War. His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards. As the war spanned most of Mulisch's formative phase, it had a defining influence on his life and work. In 1963, he wrote a non-fiction work about theEichmann case:Criminal Case 40/61. Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War areDe Aanslag (The Assault),Het stenen bruidsbed, andSiegfried.[11]
Het Stenen Bruidsbed ("The Stone Bridal Bed", 1959; novel)
Tanchelijn (1960; play)
De knop ("The button", 1961; play)
Voer voor Psychologen ("Food for psychologists", 1961; autobiography)
Wenken voor de bescherming van uw gezin en uzelf, tijdens de Jongste Dag ("Tips for the Protection of Your Family and Yourself During the Last Judgment"), 1961; essays)
De Verteller verteld: Kommentaar, Katalogus, Kuriosa en een Katastrofestuk ("The Narrator being narrated: Comments, Catalogue, Curiosities and a Piece of Catastrophe, 1971; essay onThe Narrator)
De toekomst van gisteren ("Yesterday's future", 1972; essay on a book the author cannot write)
10 See also: “Augustinus P. Dierick: The Perils of Mythmaking: Harry Mulisch’s Siegfried (2001).” Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies, XXVII, I [2006], 11–31.
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