Poetry from the Low Countries: Nightfigure by Willem Frederik Hermans

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Nightfigure by Willem Frederik Hermans

Nightfigure

The sun was so strong

That I could see nothing but black

And white

That I measured myself

Only with my shadow

The sun was so high

That I hardly had a shadow

And that's why, by day, I'm so small and tired

I, who grows only when it gets late.

(Original title: 'Nachtgedaante' -from the collection 'Hypnodrome', 1948 - Uitgeverij A.A.M. Stols)

Willem Frederik Hermans [1921-1995]

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Hans van den Bos

was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1948.

In the late Sixties, after National Service, he began working in a bookshop, which he took over after a number of years. The shop, under his direction, became specialised in Literature, Modern Art and Architecture, containing one of the largest collections of poetry in the whole of The Netherlands.

He was invited, in the 1990's, by the former director of Poetry International, the late Martin Mooij, to display his poetry collection on a book stall at the annual festival in Rotterdam. In 1997 he closed the shop and 5 years later emigrated to Ireland, where he is presently busy as a writer and translator of poetry.

Contact: JohannesvandenBos@protonmail.com

Hilary Reynolds

Hilary Reynolds is an English/Dutch classical singer, music teacher and choral conductor, who was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1954.

She studied singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London and, after graduating in 1978, moved to The Netherlands, where she pursued a career as a concert singer and vocal coach. In 2002, she moved to Ireland, together with her husband, Hans van den Bos, where she had been invited by the Head of the Music Department of University College Cork to take up a post there teaching Vocal Studies, Art-Song and Opera.

For a number of years, she has collaborated with Hans van den Bos writing theatre shows and plays and assisted with translations of his own work as well as of other poets, including translations of Russian poetry by Anna Achmatova.