Jef Geeraerts

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Jef Geeraerts with his wife Eleonore Vigenon

Jozef Adriaan Anna Geeraerts (born February 23, 1930 in Antwerp ; † May 11, 2015 in Ghent , Belgium ) was a Belgian author who was particularly recognized for his socially critical crime novels .

Life

He was born in 1930 to wealthy parents (Frans Geeraerts and Anna van der Heiden) and attended a communal boys' school, later the French-speaking Onze Lieve Vrouwecollege led by Jesuits . He studied political and administrative sciences at a colonial school.

He was drafted into military service. This time he spent in Germany he completed as a reserve lieutenant. After his service he married and worked as an editor of the Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift . He had three children with his first wife.

In 1954 Jef Geeraerts went to what was then the Belgian Congo colony as an administrative officer . There he took it to the district administrator in the Bumba district . From 1959 he commanded a special unit as a volunteer, which was supposed to keep the warring tribes of the Baluba and the Lulua apart. In 1960 he was seriously wounded and returned to Belgium in August of the same year. The experiences from his time in the Congo led to a deep life crisis.

From 1962 he studied German at the Free University of Brussels . In the same year his first novel Ik ben maar een neger was published . In 1963 he was divorced from his wife.

In 1968 Gangreen 1. Black Venus was published , a novel with autobiographical features. The novel was awarded the state prize for narrative prose in 1969. A little later, the Ministry of Justice confiscated the books. A number of other novels followed, denouncing Belgian colonialism and the activities of the Belgian paramilitaries in the Congo. With these works, Jef Geeraerts processed the traumatic experiences of his colonial times.

1978 second marriage to Eleonore Vigenon. He was temporarily editor of the Elseviers Weekblad . He made contributions to Panorama and Nieuw Wereldtijdschrift . Some of his novels have been made into films and many have been translated into different languages.

In his later years, Jef Geeraerts mainly wrote sophisticated detective novels in which he portrayed Belgium with ruthless harshness.

Jef Geeraerts died of a heart attack on May 11, 2015 at the age of 85.

Awards

Works

  • Ik ben maar een negro . 1962, novel
  • Schroot . 1963, novel
  • Zonder clan . 1965, novel
  • Het verhaal van Matsombo . 1966, novel (German: charlatan on hot earth: The stories of Grégoire-Désiré Matsombo , 1969)
  • De trologdieten . 1966, story
  • De zeven doeken the schepping . 1967, drama
  • Gangreen 1. Black Venus . 1968, Roman (German: In the sign of the stallion , 1971)
  • Indian summer . 1969, story
  • Avondspelen . 1970, radio play
  • Concerto . 1970, radio play
  • Tien brieven over layde en dood . 1971, short stories
  • Avondspelen . 1971, television play
  • Gangreen 2. De goede moordenaar . 1972, novel
  • De fotograaf . 1972, novel
  • Ode to Ignatius . 1972, radio play
  • Behave . 1973, short stories
  • Reizen met Jef Geeraerts . 1974, reports
  • Gangreen 3. Het teken van de hond . 1975, novel
  • Congo en daarna . 1975, short story
  • Dood in Bourgondië . 1976, novel
  • De holy kruisvaart . 1976, pamflet
  • Gangreen 4. Het zevende zegel . 1977, novel
  • Imagine a left bourgeois . 1977, aphorisms
  • De zaak Jespers . 1978, report
  • Kodiak . 58 . 1979, novel
  • De coltmoorden . 1980, Roman (German: Coltmorde . Unionsverlag, Zurich 2003 ISBN 3-293-20254-3 )
  • Laatste letter rondom ran en dood . 1980, letters
  • Hunt . 1981, novel
  • Diamond . 1982, novel
  • Over poems volIEde en verukking . 1982, essay
  • Drugs . 1983, novel
  • De trap . 1984, novel
  • De zaak Alzheimer's . 1985, novel (filmed in 2003 Deadly - The Alzheimer's Case )
  • Marcellus . 1985, letters
  • Het Sigmaplan . 1986, novel
  • Romeinse suite . 1987, novel
  • Gesprekken . 1987, interviews
  • Zand . 1988, novel
  • Schießen . 1988, novel
  • Het huis called "Les Hêtres" . 1989, short story
  • Sanpaku . 1989, Roman (German: Sanpaku , 1992)
  • Double-face . 1990, Roman (German: Double face , 1992)
  • Z 17 . 1991, novel
  • Het Rashomon Complex . 1992, novel
  • Op avontuur met jef Geeraerts . 1992, novel
  • Be careful . 1992, short stories
  • De Cu Chi case . 1993, novel
  • De Nachtvogels . 1994, novel
  • Goud . 1995, novel
  • De PG . 1998, Roman (German: Der Generalstaatsanwalt . Unionsverlag, Zurich 2004 ISBN 3-293-20288-8 )
  • De ambassadeur . 2000, novel
  • Dossier K. 2002, Roman (German: Codex K. Unionsverlag, Zurich 2006) (filmed in 2009 Unpunished , also: The right to revenge - In the crosshairs of the clan )

Web links

Commons : Jef Geeraerts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Publisher biography  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / home.hccnet.nl  
  2. ↑ Jef Geeraerts dies in Gent, De Standaard
personal data
SURNAME Geeraerts, Jef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geeraerts, Jozef Adriaan Anna (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Antwerp , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 2015
Place of death Ghent , Belgium