Herman Koch

This article is about the Dutch writer and actor Herman Koch. For people with similarly written names, see Hermann Koch .

Herman Koch

Herman Koch (born September 5, 1953 in Arnhem ) is a Dutch writer and actor. Sometimes he writes under the stage name Menno Voorhof . He is known in the Netherlands as a TV comedian and producer, as well as a writer and newspaper columnist. His book "Het diner" became a bestseller with 2.5 million copies sold worldwide (2016). For the Dutch Book Week (= boekenweek) in spring 2017, Koch wrote the book "Makkelijk Leven" for the Boekenweek present .

Life and work

Koch moved to Amsterdam with his parents as a child . As a student he attended the Montessori high school there. He later completed a Slavic studies in his hometown with a focus on Russian. As a young man, he worked for a year on a farm in Finland .

His debut as a writer De voorbijganger from 1985 with short stories was about misunderstood lonely people. His first novel from 1989 took his experiences as a student at a Montessori school as the starting point for a satirical analysis of the shortcomings he had experienced. Eten met Emma from 2000 is a funny and sad portrayal of the encounter between a professionally failed writer and a successful writer.

As comedian-actor Koch became known especially with the comedy - TV series Jiskefet ( West Frisian ran for "ashtray"), the approximately 15 years. In addition, he has long been just as prominent as a writer and columnist for the Amsterdam daily De Volkskrant . In 2005 he wrote the dictation text for the “Groot Dictee der Nederlandse Taal” (Big National Dictation Competition in Dutch).

Koch is married to a Spaniard, has a son with her who was born in 1994 and lives mostly in Spain .

In 2009, Herman Koch received the prestigious Dutch literature award "NS Publieksprijs" for his fifth novel Het diner . It was at the top of the Dutch bestseller list for seven months in 2009 . " Wherever German stories tend to sink into profundity or melancholy, the Dutch tend to fall into subtle, black humor with pleasure ." The negotiations between the two parents and couples take place during an evening together over dinner in the starred restaurant. It is therefore an exciting, subtle and funny exposure of bourgeois "moral" practice in the sense of Claude Chabrol . The German translation was published in 2010 by the Cologne publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch under the title Angerierter . The novel has been filmed several times, most recently in 2017 under the title The Dinner with Richard Gere , Laura Linney , Steve Coogan , Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny in the leading roles.

The thriller Zomerhuis met zwembad ( summer house with swimming pool ), which appeared in German translation in 2011, is again a social novel that intensifies the morale of medium- sized businesses with some explosive ingredients. The narrative voice is that of a misanthropic cynic and general practitioner who specializes in hypochondriacs and people in artistic professions. This allows deep insights behind the bourgeois facades and scenes.

In the novel De greppel (Der Graben) , published in German in 2018 , Koch deals with jealousy and mistrust and in the portrait of the fictional Amsterdam Mayor Robert Walter creates a loose moral image of our egocentric society.

The US-American author Stephen King said that only a few writers of eerie psychological thrillers can match Herman Koch. "With him you have the feeling of being locked in a narrow room with a madman who gives the impression of being perfectly sensible."

Works

• 1985 - De voorbijganger , short stories
• 1989 - Red ons, Maria Montanelli , Roman
• 1991 - Hansaplast voor een opstandige , stories by Menno Voorhof
• 1996 - Eindelijk oorlog , novel
• 1998 - Geen agenda , short stories
• 1999 - Het evangelie volgens Jodocus , columns
• 2000 - Eten met Emma , Roman
• 2001 - Schrijven & drinken , short stories
• 2001 - Dingetje , columns
• 2003 - All behave , stories
• 2003 - Odessa Star , Roman.
  • Übers. Christiane Kuby : Odessa Star , Roman. Kiepenheuer & Witsch , Cologne 2013 ISBN 978-3-462-04559-8
• 2005 - Thinking of Bruce Kennedy , novel
• 2009 - Het diner . Novel. Anthos, Amsterdam ISBN 978-90-414-1368-0
  • Übers. Heike Baryga : Done. Novel . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2010 ISBN 978-3-462-04183-5
• 2010 - De ideal schoonzoon , columns
• 2011 - Zomerhuis met zwembad , Roman, Anthos, Amsterdam 2011 ISBN 978-90-414-2052-7
  • Übers. Christiane Kuby: Summer house with swimming pool . Thriller. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2011 ISBN 978-3-462-04344-0
• 2012 - Korte geschiedenis van het bedrog , short stories, Anthos, Amsterdam 2012 ISBN 978-90-414-2050-3
• 2014 - Geachte heer M . novel
  • Translated by Christiane Kuby: Dear Mr. M. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2015 ISBN 978-3-462-04738-7
• 2016 - De greppel, Roman
  • Übers. Christiane Kuby: The ditch . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2018 ISBN 978-3-462-05082-0
• 2017 - Makkelijk Leven ( Boekenweek present )
• 2020 - Finse Dagen Roman, Ambo | Anthos, 2020, ISBN 9789026341069

Audio books

• 2012 - Served , Argon Verlag , 6 CDs, voice Joachim Krol , ISBN 978-3839891056

Scripts

• 1990 - Wings of fame

Radio broadcasts

• 1984-1989 - Borát

TV series

• 1990-2005 - Jiskefet
• 2008 - Voetbalvrouwen (comedy about four football fan wives)

Awards

• 2009: "Nederlandse stemmen": NS Publieksprijs for Het diner , that is a nationwide readers' vote, an audience award
• 2014: Euregio student literature prize for Zomerhuis met zwembad

Web links

Commons : Herman Koch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Herman Koch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Koch's profile in the digital library of Dutch literature (ndl.)
• Interview Herman Koch with Mark Reynolds - English pen ( Memento from September 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

• Short biography and reviews of works by Herman Koch at perlentaucher.de
• Herman Koch in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Herman Koch writes the Boekenweek present 2017 (report from April 19, 2016)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source: [1] Interview from April 19, 2016 with Herman Koch on Dutch TV (Dutch)
2. ^ Koch's profile in the Digital Library of Dutch Literature
3. ↑ http://taalunieversum.org/nieuws/1029/herman_koch_maakt_groot_dictee_2005
4. ↑ Koch wint NS Publieksprijs in nu.nl from October 20, 2009, accessed August 29, 2010
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Review by Oliver Junge in the FAZ on August 27, 2010: "Executioner's meal for a teacher Self-deception as a favorite dish: Herman Koch's brilliant tragicomedy about the elasticity of morality" , accessed on August 29, 2010
7. ↑ Deutschlandradio Kultur, August 27, 2010: “Moments des Kontroll Loses ”, review of Angerierter , accessed on August 29, 2010
8. ↑ Wolfgang Schneider in Deutschlandradio Kultur on December 1, 2011: “A doctor takes revenge” Review of Herman Koch's summer house with swimming pool
9. ↑ Interior views of Amsterdam. In: femundo.de. Retrieved February 22, 2018 . 
10. ↑ "When it comes to creepy-psychological fiction, few writers can equal Herman Koch. There's a sense of being locked in a bery small room with a madman who seems perfect; y reasonable." Stephen King on Twitter on October 15, 2019 [2]