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Gerard Reve
Biography
Gerard Reve was born in 1923 in Amsterdam. He claimed to be the child of Baltic-Russian refugees but his father was actually a Dutch journalist and both his parents were Communist. He had various jobs, including that of court reporter. He lived for a while in London, where he worked as a nurse, and wrote two books in English, partially because he had published a story in Dutch which was condemned as it featured masturbation. At his time he married and remained married for eleven years but had already accepted that he was homosexual and started having homosexual relationships. His earlier works were published under the name Simon van het Reve. His first was a collection of poetry but his second published work was a novel, De avonden (The Evenings), which remains one of the classics of Dutch literature and regularly tops lists of the great Dutch works yet, amazingly, has not been translated into English. His work has remained controversial and has been condemned for obscenity. He was also prosecuted for blasphemy for his Nader tot U [Closer to Thou], which has the narrator having sex with God. He died in 1986 from complications relating to Alzheimer’s disease.
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Gerard Reve
Gerard Reve
Gerard Reve
Gerard Reve (in Dutch)
Gerard Reve (in Dutch)
Gerard Reve (in Dutch)
Gerard Reve (in Dutch)
Nader tot Reve (in Dutch)
Bibliography
1940 Terugkeer (poetry)
1947 De avonden (The Evenings) (novel)
1949 Werther Nieland (published in English in Childhood) (short novel)
1950 De ondergang van de familie Boslowits (published in English in Childhood) (short novel)
1956 The Acrobat and Other Stories (stories)
1960 Moorlandshuis (drama)
1961 Tien vrolijke verhalen (stories)
1962 Commissaris Fennedy (drama)
1963 Vier Wintervertellingen (stories)
1963 Op weg naar het einde (novel)
1965 Zes Gedichten (poetry)
1965 Gezicht op Kerstmis en andere geestelijke liederen (poetry)
1966 Nader tot U (novel)
1967 Veertien etsen van Frans Lodewijk Pannekoek voor arbeiders verklaard (short novel)
1968 A Prison Song in Prose
1970 Uit de Kunst. Brieven aan Simon Carmiggelt (letters)
1971 Vier Pleidooien (talks)
1972 De Taal der Liefde (novel)
1972 Onze Vrienden (story)
1973 Credo (poetry)
1973 Lieve Jongens (novel)
1973 Lekker Kerstbrood (story)
1973 Het Zingend Hart (poetry)
1974 Het Lieve Leven (letters)
1974 Rietsuiker (story)
1975 Een Circusjongen (novel)
1975 Ik had hem lief (story)
1976 Brieven aan kandidaat-katholiek A. (letters)
1976 Drie toespraken (talks)
1978 Oud en Eenzaam (novel)
1979 Een eigen huis (stories, poetry, talks)
1979 Scheppend Kunstenaar
1980 Moeder en Zoon (novel)
1980 Brieven aan Wimie (letters)
1981 De Vierde Man (novel)
1981 Drie woorden (memoir)
1981 Brieven aan Josine M., 1959-1975 (letters)
1981 Brieven aan Bernard S. (letters)
1982 Brieven aan Simon C. (letters)
1982 Zeergeleerde Vrouwe (letters)
1983 Album Gerard Reve
1983 Wolf (novel)
1983 Brieven aan Wim B. (letters)
1984 Brieven aan Frans P. (letters)
1984 De stille vriend (short novel)
1984 Schoon schip, 1945-1984 (stories, poetry, articles)
1985 Brieven aan geschoolde arbeiders (letters)
1985 Roomse heisa (essays)
1986 Brieven aan Ludo P., 1962-1980 (letters)
1986 Klein gebrek geen bezwaar. Een keuze uit zijn brieven (letters)
1987 Verzamelde Gedichten (poetry)
1987 Het geheim van Louis Couperus (literature)
1987 Zelf schrijver worden (talks)
1988 Bezorgde Ouders (Parents Worry) (novel)
1991 Brieven aan mijn lijfarts (letters)
1992 Ik had hem lief (novel)
1993 Brieven van een aardappeleter (letters)
1995 Op zoek (short novel)
1995 Zondagmorgen zonder Zorgen
1996 Het boek van violet en dood (novel)
1996 Ik bak ze bruiner (fable)
1997 Brieven aan Matroos Vosch, 1975-1992
Thom Hoffman: 23 Brieven aan Frits van Egters over het maken van De avonden. & 1997 Gerard Reve: 7 Brieven aan Thom Hoffman
1997 Met niks begonnen. Correspondentie met Willem Nijholt (letters)
1998 Het hijgend hert (novel)
2001 Zalig Pasen (novel excerpt)
2003 Brieven aan Bram P. (letters)
2005 Gerard Reve – Geert van Oorschot. Briefwisseling 1951-1987 (letters)
2007 Moedig Voorwaarts – Brieven aan Bert en Netty de Groot 1974-1997 (letters)
2007 Verscheur deze brief. Ik vertel veel te veel- Correspondentie met Willem Frederik Hermans 1948-1987 (letters)
2009 De Laatste Jaren Van Mijn Grootvader (anthology)