Gedichten

by Jan Arends

In januari 1944 heeft Jan Arends een eerste gedicht in een illegaal krantje gepubliceerd. Vanaf 1949 publiceerde hij in verschillende tijdschriften zo nu en dan gedichten. Zijn eerste dichtbundel Gedichten werd in 1965 door De Bezige Bij uitgebracht.


Literaire Pocket nr. 132.

45 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1965

About the author

Johannes Cornelis (Jan) Arends (1925-1974) wrote a small body of work that consists of prose and poetry. On the day his collection 'Lunchpauzegedichten' (Lunchbreakpoems) was published, he committed suicide by jumping out the window of his room in Amsterdam. Arends suffered of depressions for most of his life, about which he wrote in Keefman (1972) one of the most impressive testimonies. When he was not staying in psychiatric hospitals, Arends worked alternately as a writer, a copywriter for advertising agencies and as a servant for older women.

In his prose and poetry a suffocating and desolate atmosphere are combined with an unique wit. In autobiographical pieces, he writes about his youth, including the Catholic boarding school where he lived from the age of thirteen. In 1984, ten years after his death, his Collected Works was published. A tribute to a great writer who knew how to evoke strong reactions with his readers.