Gulliver's New Travels

Nukila Amal (Indonesia), Rustum Kozain (South Africa), Atte Jongstra and Allard Schröder wrote Gulliver's New Travels and perform this contemporary version, directed by Carel Alphenaar, followed by an interview by Bas Heijne. English spoken.

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Information

Date and time Friday 12 January 2007 21:40 tot 22:01 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

'My little friend Grildrig... I cannot but conclude that the majority of your inhabitants belongs to the most damaging and the most detestable vermin that Mother nature ever allowed to walk on the face of the earth,' Jonathan Swift wrote in his famous 'travel story' Gulliver's Travels. Today only the cartoon-film version is known, but Swift wanted more than just entertain. He wanted to hold a mirror to people's faces. Nukila Amal (Indonesia), Rustum Kozain (South Africa), Atte Jongstra and Allard Schröder found new destinations for Gulliver. Together they wrote Gullivers New Travels and they brought this contemporary version to the stage in Winternachten, directed by Carel Alphenaar. English spoken.

Line-up

Nukila Amal

(Ternate, Indonesia, 1971) has had her 2005 short story collection, Laluba, named Best Literary Work of the Year by Tempo magazine, and her novel Cala Ibi (2003) shortlisted for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award. Both works have marked the latest phenomenon in Indonesian literature by their détournement from the tradition of story telling and conventional narrative forms. At present, she serves on the Committee of Literature at the Jakarta Arts Council.
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Rustum Kozain

was born in Paarl (South Africa) in 1966 and grew up there. He studied in the Department of English at the University of Cape Town. As PhD candidate he focused his research on selected South African poetry in English from 1970 to 1990. His poetry has appeared in journals both locally and abroad and he has also published reviews, short fiction and journalism, and the occasional literary essay. His debut volume of poetry, This Carting Life, was published in 2005. A former lecturer in English literary studies, he now works as a freelance editor. He is currently working on an anthology of poetry for high schools.
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Atte Jongstra

(Terwispel, 1956) is a prolific prose writer, poet, critic and essayist. His first publication was the anthology De multatulianen on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Multatuli Society. De psychologie van de zwavel (The Psychology of Sulphur, 1990) was awarded with the Geertjan Lubberhuizen Prize. After that many titles followed, among others Cicerone (1992), Het huis M. Memoirs of a Speaker (The House M. Memoirs of a Speaker) (1993), Familieportret (Family Portrait) (1996), Disgenoten (Table Companions) (1998). The novels fit into the 26-volume 'modern memory lexicon' the writer is working on. His recent novels Worst (Sausage, 2014) and De aardappelcentrale (Potatoe Center, 2019) deal with opportunism in times of war. Jongstra was awarded the Constantijn Huijgens Prize 2016 for his body of work.
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Allard Schröder

made his debut in 1989 with the novel De gave van Luxuria (Luxuria's Gift). This was followed two years later by De muziek van de zwarte toetsen (The Music of the Black Keys). With Raaf (Raven), Schröder found a wider audience. The stories in Het pak van Kleindienst (Kleindienst's Suit) is situated along varying moments in history. The atmosphere is menacing and mysterious. In his novel Grover Schröder looks into a number of essential questions of life. De Hydrograaf (The Hydrographer) was awarded the AKO literature prize and is a curious novel in which the patterns of the sea reflect those of love. In 2005 the novel Favonius appeared and early 2006 the collection of essays Nieuwe tijden (Modern Times) was published.
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Bas Heijne

(Nijmegen, NL, 1960) writes essays, short stories and plays, and is a columnist with the daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad. He published the novels Laatste woorden (Last words) and Suez and received the Henriëtte Roland Holst Prize in 2005. In 2011's Moeten wij van elkaar houden, het populisme ontleed (Do We Have to Love One Another? Populism Dissected) Heijne shows how globalisation and individualism pave the way for populism. Angst en schoonheid (Fear and Beauty) was published in 2013, an essay about Dutch writer Louis Couperus, whom Heijne admires. In the same year his documentary about Couperus was broadcast. In 2015 he hosted the five-part documentary De volmaakte mens (The Perfect Human). In 2016 his essay Onbehagen – nieuw licht op de beschaafde mens (Discontent - new light on civilized man) was published. In 2017 Heijne received the P.C. Hooft Award for his essayistic works.
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