Between Fear and Hope Part 2: literature & architecture

Does art offer hope? Writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden and architect Sjoerd Soeters discuss this with Michaël Zeeman. In Dutch.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 19 January 2008 21:40 tot 22:01 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

Part 2 of the programme lasting a whole evening in the main hall of the theatre, on the imagination of hope. After science literature & architecture are next: does art offer hope? From their own disciplines writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden and architect Sjoerd Soeters will react on this question. Van der Heijden turns our times into a myth, he allows the present to evolve into a universe in which the world of the gods plays a role as well. Soeters gained renown in recent years because of the Haverleij, near Den Bosch, a complex of castles that links up with a new need for safe surroundings. Which expectation for the future emanates from his work? Interview by Michaël Zeeman. In Dutch.

A.F.Th. van der Heijden

(1951, Geldrop) is regarded as one of the greatest postwar Dutch writers. He wrote two cycles of novels. In his second cycle Homo Duplex the novels Movo Tapes (2003), Drijfzand Koloniseren (2006) and Het Schervengericht (2007) appeared. In the last book A.F.Th. tells about the great director Roman Polanski, who ends up in a Californian prison, in the same unit as the murderer of his wife and unborn child. For the cycle he abridged his name to A.F.Th. In 2007 appeared Mim, a novella on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Harry Mulisch. Between 1983 and 1996 he published The Toothless Time, which is regarded as the core of his oeuvre and as the most famous cycle in Dutch literature. He has also published other work, for instance Engelenplaque (2003) a diary (1966 to 2003). His work has been awarded several times, with, among others, the F. Bordewijk-prize and the Multatuli-prize. A.F.Th. made his debut in 1978 using the pseudonym Patrizio Canaponi.
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Michaël Zeeman

(Marken, 1958-2009) was a poet, a writer and a commentator, with a regular column on the Forum page and the book pages of the Volkskrant. Zeeman was the editor of the arts section of the Volkskrant and from 2006-2007 its Rome correspondent. In 2006 he and the writer Abdelkader Benali published an exchange of letters, exchanging ideas on politics, life, love and literature. In 2002 Zeeman received the Gouden Ganzenveer (Golden Goose Quill) for his merits for Dutch literature. Zeeman became well-known in the 1990s as the host of his monthly book programme 'Late at night after a short walk', later to be renamed 'Zeeman with books'. In 1991 he published his first volume of poetry, Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm), winning him the C. Buddingh Prize. His second volume Verhoudingen (Relationships) appeared in 1995. In the same year he published short stories entitled De Verduistering (The Darkening). He died in 2009.
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Sjoerd Soeters

(1947) is one of the leading architects in the Netherlands. Soeters became known in the 1980s for his brightly coloured and exuberantly styled buildings. The Circustheater in Zandvoort is the best known example of his early designs. In the 1990s his buildings became less exuberant, urban development taking an increasingly important place. In his designs he attempts to return to the intimate atmosphere of countrylife in the 1950s. His design for the castle Haverleij in Den Bosch is an example of this. In 1979 he founded his own agency with his wife Merle Soeters-Steffels. When Jos van Eldonk entered the partnership in 1997 the name was changed into Soeters Van Eldonk Architects. Between 1995 and 1996 he was a professor at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. Java Island in Amsterdam is another of Soeters' well-known designs.
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