Frank Martinus Arion

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Biography

Frank Martinus Arion was born in 1936 in Curaçao. The family soon left for Aruba, where his father worked for an oil company. In 1955, having done well at school, he went to the Netherlands, where he studied Dutch language and literature at the University of Leiden. With other Antilleans, he founded a magazine on Antillean topics. He returned to Curaçao in the 1960s, where he worked in radio but then went back to the Netherlands to continue his studies. His first novel – Dubbelspel (Double Play) – was very successful. In 1975 he went to Paramaribo but returned to Curaçao in 1981, where he worked to promote Papiamento, the local language. He became involved in politics and was critical of the Netherlands for what he called recolonisation of the Netherlands Antilles. He has produced poetry, novels, plays and essays. He died in 2015.

Bibliography

1956 Tres perla Antilliana (poetry)
1957 Stemmen uit Afrika (poetry)
1961 Ta amor so po (poetry)
1968 Ilusion di un anochi: 16 sonet original di amor (poetry)
1971 In de wolken (poetry)
1972 Bibliografie van het Papiamentu
1973 Dubbelspel (Double Play) (novel)
1974 Sisyphiliaans alpinisme tegen miten (poetry)
1975 Afscheid van de koningin (novel)
1977 Albert Helman, de eenzame jager
1977 Hier moesten stenen staan maar staan letters
1979 Nobele wilden (novel)
1983 Marein Lopap 2 o malesa di semi-lingualismo
1987 The Emancipation of Papiamentui
1988 Bon hulandes: Manual pa metodo di Hulandes komo idioma stranjo
1989 Kara: un partido politiko desidido
1990 Un yu’i korsou di tur bario
1993 De ibismensmuis
1995 De laatste vrijheid (novel)
1996 The Kiss of a Slave. Papiamentu’s West-African Connections
2001 De eeuwige hond
2005 Eén ding is droevig
2006 De deserteurs (novel)
2009 Intimiteiten van het schrijven (essays)
2013 Heimwee en de ruïne: verzamelde gedichten (poetry)

The Modern Novel

The world-wide literary novel from early 20th Century onwards