Arnon Grünberg
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Arnon Yasha Yves (Arnon) Grünberg (born February 22, 1971 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch Jewish writer. Some of his books were written using the heteronym Marek van der Jagt.
Grünberg made his literary debut in 1994 with the novel Blauwe maandagen (Blue Mondays), which won the Dutch prize for the best debut novel that year. In 2000, under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt, he won the best debut prize again for his novel De geschiedenis van mijn kaalheid (The History of My Baldness).
Grünberg publishes novels about once a year but also writes columns and essays in a wide variety of Dutch newspapers and magazines. He does not restrict himself only to the written media, but also reads a story for the radio every week and for some time he was host of a cultural television program. He also writes a blog for the literary Internet magazine Words Without Borders.
His most recent novel, Tirza, won the Dutch Golden Owl Prize for Literature and the Libris Prize.[1] His books have been translated into many languages, including English, German and Japanese.
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[edit] Selected Bibliography
Novels:
- Blauwe maandagen / Blue Mondays (1994)
- Figuranten / Silent Extras (1997)
- De heilige Antonio ("Saint Antonio") (1998)
- Fantoompijn / Phantom Pain (2000)
- De geschiedenis van mijn kaalheid / Story of My Baldness (2000), as Marek van der Jagt
- De Mensheid zij geprezen, Lof der Zotheid 2001 ("Praised be Mankind"/"Praise of Folly 2001") (2001)
- Gstaad 95-98 (2002), as Marek van der Jagt
- De asielzoeker ("The Asylum Seeker") (2003)
- De joodse messias / Grote jiddische roman ("The Jewish Messiah") (2004)
- Tirza (2006)
Stories:
Essays:
- Troost van de slapstick ("The Comfort of Slapstick") (1998)
- Monogaam ("Monogamous") (2001), as Marek van der Jagt
- Otto Weininger Of bestaat de jood? ("Otto Weininger or Does the Jew Exist?") (2005), as Marek van der Jagt
Filmscript:
- Het 14e kippetje ("The Fourteenth Chicken") (1998)
Plays:
- You are also very attractive when you are dead (1998)
- De Asielzoeker (adapted by Koen Tachelet, 2005)
Sites:
[edit] Themes, Style, Stories
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This article or section is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2007) |
Grünberg likes to use the perspective of individuals that end up making total sense to the reader, but that are likely to be considered more or less severely disturbed people, emotionally or otherwise, by the outside world. In his first two novels, the main character is slightly remarkable but not really a freak. The protagonist's friends, or at least the people he is hanging out with, are usually characterised by having certain obsessions or unusual hobbies, like handing out business cards to complete strangers, occasionally buying newspapers in languages they can't read, or having a desire to make it in Hollywood. The result of our learning the characters' adventures, or lack thereof, is often amusement. Arnon Grünberg possesses the talent to describe absurd or potentially absurd situations and dialogues, without ever losing the author's distance, and without ever telling the reader to laugh. Unusual relationships, of a sexual kind or not, are another important theme to Grünberg. Some characters like spending a lot of (not necessarily available) money, living in hotels, taking taxis and dining in restaurants, a lifestyle that Grünberg himself is suspected of preferring too.
In his "Van der Jagt" novels, as the author said himself, he could, behind the cover of the pseudonym, go a little further in exploring themes that may be inappropriate to some. An example of such a theme is the anal fixation and, in fact, general careless cruelty of the main character described in Gstaad 95-98. This fascinating novel is not easy to read, but neither is it easy to put down. Here, we can't even say that the main character evokes any sympathy in the reader. The novel, however, is humoristic, albeit of a sick kind.
The Asylum Seeker is Grünberg's most touching book so far. Main character Beck is a failure, he makes mistakes (one of them of a violent nature), but ends up being sympathetic in the reader's eyes. Grünberg manages to have the reader conclude that Beck, a frigid cynic without illusions, has been the only normal person in this book's world all along. The Asylum Seeker is not really about an asylum seeker at all. The asylum seeker is merely a guy whom Beck's partner, a woman called The Bird in the book, who is terminally ill, marries in order for him to arrange a passport. The fact that this marriage is actually consummated (something Beck doesn't have a problem with, considering his own sexual policies) indicates the unusual, but maybe superior, nature of Beck and The Bird's relationship.
The Jewish Messiah is not about Judaism, nor about the Messiah nor about any of the political or historical entities that may be hidden, or referred to, in the book. It is about a young individual, Basel-resident Xavier Radek, grandson of a late SS-member. He needs a mission and, wanting to know more about Jewish suffering, decides to "console the Jews." He converts to Zionism, and falls in love with the Jew Awromele. Xavier's almost fatal circumcision, performed by a half-blind dealer of kosher cheese, is described in some of Grünberg's most hilarious scenes. This book, together with the Van der Jagt works, confirms Grünberg's unique position within Dutch literature. An illustration of the sense of humour employed in the book is the name "King David" given to the testicle Radek lost (during his circumcision), which is worshipped when Radek is PM of Israel. Actual political issues, something Grünberg is not interested in employing in his books in the first place, are merely referred to because they are simply fun to use.
