Godfried Bomans

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Godfried Bomans (March 2, 1913 – December 22, 1971) was a popular Dutch author and television personality.

Much of his work remains untranslated into English. He originally studied law and then psychology and philosophy in Nijmegen, but spent his entire life writing. He is best known for his books of modern day fairy tales and his short, humorous pieces full of parody and acerbic wit. Even though he was a widely read-author in the 1950s and 1960s, critics seem to dismiss his work as literature and he fails to appear in most histories of Dutch literature. Nevertheless a seven volume edition of his collected Works was published between 1996 and 1999. His book Erik, or the Little Insect Book was made into a film in 2004.

Aside from his fairy tales and humorous books Bomans also produced numerous collections of essays and criticism. During the 1950s he wrote a very entertaining travel book about Rome - Wandelingen Door Rome (Walks Through Rome).

His Television appearances were mainly in the form of an eccentric wit on panel and game shows.

A staunch admirer of the works of Charles Dickens led him to be a founder member (in 1956) of the Haarlem Branch of the Dickens Fellowship of which he became a Life President later on. In 1969 The Dickens Fellowship London made him a Vice-President (an Honorary Member) to recognize his efforts to promote Dickens' works. An anthology of his collected writings on Dickens was published in February 1972.

[edit] Selected works

• Wonderlijke Nachten (Wonderful/Wondrous Nights)
• Erik, of het Kleine Insectenboek (Erik, or the Little Insect Book)
• translated as Eric in the Land of the Insects (published Boston, 1994)
• Pieter Bas
• Sprookjes (Fairy Tales)'
• translated as The Wily Wizard and the Wicked Witch and other weird stories (published London, 1969)
• Kopstukken
• Pim, Frits en Ida (an eight volume series of Children's Books of which four were translated into English)
• Dickens, waar zijn uw spoken? (posthumously published anthology of articles on Dickens and his books)