In the father's garden

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In the garden of the father (Dutch Knielen op een bed violen ) is a novel by Jan Siebelink from 2005. The German translation is by Bettina Bach and was published in 2007 by Arche Verlag in Zurich and Hamburg . The book became a bestseller in the Netherlands with 700,000 copies sold (as of 2016) . The novel was filmed in 2016.

content

Hans Sievez and his wife and childhood sweetheart Margje lead a happy family life in their small nursery. Both have to work hard to ensure that the company generates enough income for the family. But their unconditional love for one another makes them strong. One day Hans meets the preacher of a strictly Protestant sect , Jozef Mieras, who tells him about his view of God and who kindles in him the memory of his difficult childhood on the edge of the moor and the strictly religious upbringing of his father. When Hans then has a deep religious experience, he is convinced that he has had direct contact with God and that he is called . In the search for the meaning of life and eternal life following this experience , Hans loses sight more and more of the real world, as well as the contact with his surroundings. He falls under the spell of strictly religious sect beliefs, so that the alienation from his wife and sons increases even further. While Hans seems to slip increasingly under the control of the sect, Margje can only do little more than watch the love of her life slowly but surely vanish.

In the father's garden is a love story and a classic fateful drama about two people who love each other dearly. A touching film about love, faith and making decisions.

Period of time

The novel spans about forty years of the 20th century. It tells the period from 1928 to 1966. The Second World War with the occupation of the Netherlands by the Germans only plays a subordinate role. The main focus is on the post-war years, i.e. the time of the marriage of Margje and Hans Sievez.

Places of action

Lathum

His hard, privation childhood spent Hans Sievez few kilometers east of the Dutch city of Arnhem in a lonely cottage on the edge of the moor, not far from the river IJssel . He goes to elementary school in the village of Lathum , where he meets his childhood sweetheart Margje.

The hague

After the death of his mother, Hans Sievez flees from his violent and devout father and ends up in the far away The Hague , where he trained as a gardener and lived for several years. It was there that Hans met the lay preacher Jozef Mieras.

Velp

Dutch Reformed Church in Velp

The main town of the novel is the small town of Velp near Arnhem, which belongs to the municipality of Rheden in the province of Gelderland. There, Hans and Margje Sievez buy a piece of land in Bergweg on which they will set up the small nursery. The city of Velp is just a few kilometers from the place of childhood.

Autobiographical Background (Velp)

The novelist's parents, Jan Siebelink Sen. and Antonia Jacoba Hupkes, married in 1937 in the Dutch Reformed Church in Velp (see photo). The author (Jan Siebelink Jun.) Saw the light of day one year later in the Hertogstraat in Velp. The following year the family moved to Bergweg 17, where the father set up a gardening business. The nursery had the Latin name "Sempervivens" (ever-living, evergreen). As in the novel, there was also a Roman Catholic cemetery "De Wijngaard" next to the property. The author's father had to look after several graves in this cemetery. The sect members secretly crawled through a hole in the hedge of the cemetery to get to Hans Sievez without his wife Martje seeing them. The author's father, Jan Siebelink, died in 1971, his mother in 1984. The property on which the nursery stood was sold in 1974 by the family. Nothing is left of the nursery today.

people

Childhood (Book One, Section 1)

  • Parents of Hans Sievez, chap. 1: Father, miner in the brickyard; Mother (dies in chapter 5), Veendersteeg, Lathum
  • Teacher of the Christian state Koning Davidschool, Lathum, Kap. 1
  • Classmates of the elementary school, chap. 1
  • Margje van Renes, chap. 1; their parents, chap. 6th
  • Sect from peat fishermen from Emden , East Frisia , Cape. 3
  • Herr von Bingerden, landowner; his chauffeur, chap. 4th
  • Neighbors, gravedigger, chap. 5/6
  • IJsselfährmann of the pedestrian ferry Lathum-Velp

Youth / Education (First Book, Section 2)

  • Foreman / colleagues in the De witte lelie nursery , Loosduinse Kade, The Hague (from chapter 10)
  • Mevrouw Fleer, landlady in Laan van Meerdervoort, The Hague (from chapter 11)
  • Jozef Mieras (from chapter 12)
  • Vocational school teacher in Boskoop (Chapter 16)

Years of Marriage (First Book, Section 3)

  • Hans and Margje Sievez, nursery, Bergweg in Velp, chap. 19th
  • the sons Reuben and Tom; Johanna
  • Customers of the nursery
  • Representative of the municipality of Velp
  • wealthy neighbor
  • Sect members / lay preachers (Jozef Mieras, Huib Steffen, Chris Ibel)

Novel title

"Knielen op een bed violen"

The Dutch title of the novel Knielen op een bed violen can be translated as "kneel on a bed of violets". On the one hand, this title is a reminder of the nursery of the Sievez family: the beds with violets / pansies (Viola Cornuta), which were pulled up on their knees in winter, shone like a blue velvet carpet in spring. They symbolize the beauty of nature, but also the happiness of the Sievez family and the success of the hardships and self-sacrificing work in the nursery.

On the other hand, kneeling indicates a religious position of prayer. In Christianity kneeling is a prayer position and one makes oneself “small” in front of God - without being forced to do so, of one's own free will. When kneeling is understood religiously, one should also think of the creative aspect of life: Man can sow and reap, but ultimately it is God who allows plants (and animals) to live and flourish. It is believed that this dual aspect of the Dutch Knielen (knee) is not properly understood as a work and as a prayer position in German, which is why we amended the title of "kneeling on a violets" for the German translation in "In the Garden of the Father".

"In the father's garden"

The German title of the novel "In the garden of the father" refers to the fairy tale The Golden Bird from the collection of the Brothers Grimm . In the fairy tale there is a tree in the garden of the father (the king) that bears golden apples. The three sons of the king are supposed to guard this tree, since the apples are secretly stolen from the tree. The tree in the king's garden stands for the tree of life , the father's garden for paradise . The nursery in the novel by Jan Siebelink is described as a little paradise.

filming

The novel was in 2015/16 in the Netherlands by director Ben Sombogaart with Barry Atsma (Hans Sievez) and Noortje Herlaar (Margje Sievez) in the lead roles filmed . The cinema release in the Netherlands was on February 25, 2016. On March 13, 2016, 100,000 people had already seen the film and the film achieved the status of the Dutch film award "Gouden Film" (Golden Film).

Awards

For the novel Knielen op een bed violen , the author Jan Siebelink received the AKO literature prize in 2005 .

Book editions

Dutch

  • Jan Siebelink, Knielen op een bed violen , Verlag De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam, hardcover, 1st edition 2005 (55th edition, January 2016), 445 pages, ISBN 978-9023492566 (Dutch).
  • Jan Siebelink, Knielen op een bed violen , De Bezige Bij publishing house, Amsterdam, paperback (Voordeeleditie), 496 pages, ISBN 978-9023416654 (Dutch).

German

  • Jan Siebelink, In the garden of the father , Arche Verlag Zurich and Hamburg, hardcover, 1st edition 2007, 528 pages, ISBN 978-3716023709 (German, translator Bettina Bach)
  • Jan Siebelink, Im Garten des Vaters , dtv München (Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag), paperback, 1st edition 2010, 528 pages, ISBN 978-3423140348 (German, translator Bettina Bach)

Secondary literature

  • Fred van Lieburg: Het punt des tijdts. De ware wereld achter 'Knielen op een bed violen' , Verlag De Bezige Bij 2008, 173 pp., ISBN 978-90-234-27117 .

Web links

  • Jan Siebelink's website
  • Information on the nursery (Bloemisterij / Kwekerij) Siebelink, Bergweg 17 in Velp: [3] , from: historievandaalhuizen.nl.
  • Interview with Jan Siebelink about the book [4] , from: weblog.bol.com, May 18, 2016. (Dutch)
  • Jan Siebelink tells about his father and about the book Knielen op een bed violen [5] , from: youtube.com (broadcast omroep Gelderland , 7:05 min.) (Dutch)
  • See the film report: Jan Siebelink is not welcome in the Urk community [6] , from: youtube.com (Dutch).

Reviews

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review of J. Hieber In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung December 8, 2007.
  2. ↑ Review of U. Baron In: Süddeutsche Zeitung December 17, 2008.
  3. ↑ Review of U. March In: Deutschlandradio Kultur 19 Dec. 2007
  4. ↑ Historical information on the Siebelink nursery in Velp (Dutch)
  5. ↑ see also the review by Ulrich Baron in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 17, 2008
  6. ↑ see also the review by Ulrich Baron in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 17, 2008
  7. ^ [1] Homepage of the author Jan Siebelink
  8. ↑ See: Arjan Peters, Jan Siebelink wint AKO Literatuurprijs [2] , from: volkskrant.nl , October 14, 2005, accessed on July 25, 2016.