Nienke van Hichtum

Nienke van Hichtum

Nienke van Hichtum ( Frisian : Nynke fan Hichtum) is the pseudonym of Sjoukje Maria Diderika Troelstra-Bokma de Boer (born February 13, 1860 in Nes , Netherlands ; † January 9, 1939 in Hilversum ). She was a well-known Dutch and Frisian translator , fairy tale and children's book author .

Her best-known book, translated in the Netherlands and later into English, is Afke's tiental (Afke * s Ten), a story about the life of a poor family of farm workers in Friesland at the turn of the century.

Adolescent years

Sjoukje Bokma de Boer was the fifth and youngest daughter of Albertus Minderts Bokma de Boer and Dieuwke Jans Klaasesz . Bokma de Boer was a liberal pastor in a Reformed denomination in which the population, consisting of farmers and fishermen, did not think much of their spiritual leaders.

Sjoukje inherited her talent for storytelling from her father. After elementary school (1875 to 1879) she was sent to the boarding school of the headmaster Scheltema in Dokkum . Scheltema recognized her talent and encouraged her to write.

marriage

In 1885 Sjoukje became engaged to Pieter Jelles Troelstra , who was studying law in Groningen . They married in 1888 and had two children, Dieuwke and Jelle (later a well-known draftsman). Troelstra worked on a Frisian literary magazine called For hûs en hiem (For house and home), on which Sjoukje also participated. Here she mainly worked on the children's section. She used the name ' Nienke van Hichtum' as a pseudonym . 'Nienke' was probably derived from the names of two women who used to read her stories, Nynke fan Foudgum and Nynke fan Syds . The latter was an acquaintance of her parents. And the "family name" 'Van Hichtum' probably comes from the name of a small Frisian village in the north of Boalsert . Her husband struggled to become a great Frisian poet and was supported by Sjoukje. However, Troelstra soon became increasingly interested in politics and joined the socialist movement . Sjoukje was also seized by the zeitgeist and sympathized with the principles of the movement.

The novel Afke's tiental

Troelstra became more and more involved in his political work, so he was a co-founder of the Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij - SDAP (Social Democratic Workers' Party), and decided that his wife should look after the children. Sjoukje, weakened after two births, now had his hands full with bringing up the children and the household. She realized more and more that her independence and creativity threatened to break. Income also decreased, so that the family had to work hard if they wanted to make ends meet. In 1897 her husband was elected to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament for the constituency of Tytsjerksteradiel . Sjoukje did not give up her writing activity, but tried to improve the family income with children's books and journalistic work.

In 1900 Troelstra had to go to prison for a month because of the so-called "Hogerhuis Affair". During this time Sjoukje wrote the novel Afke's tiental about a family of poor Frisian farm workers. This work should make her world famous.

Between 1904 and 1938 Sjoukje de Boer created a collection of around 2,600 folk songs , including children's songs and Christmas carols . The collection is now owned by the Meertens Instituut under the name: Manuscript collection volks- en kinderliederen van Nynke van Hichtum . The songs can also be found in the Nederlandse Liederenbank (Ndl. Song database).

divorce

Despite her poor health and all the work in the house, Nienke van Hichtum remained true to socialism. She worked on the socialist daily newspaper Het Volk and as a reviewer for the sister paper Het Kind .

The idea behind the new rural education homes prompted the couple to move their two children into one. This enabled Sjoukje to take an urgently needed cure abroad.

But these shifts put additional pressure on the marriage. In addition, in 1906, after the death of his father, Pieter took over the post of director of the insurance company Neerlandia . Troelstra also had a relationship with the family housekeeper. Ultimately, all of this led to the separation between Sjoukje and Pieter Jelles in 1907.

Last years

Nienke van Hichtum began to collect fairy tales from all over the world and sometimes retell them in his own books. She also translated famous children's books such as Pooh the Pooh and Robinson Crusoe . Only at the beginning of the 1930s did she return to her roots to write her own books for young people. Although she had lived in Hilversum for a long time , the stories took place in Friesland again.

Although she never took an active part in the struggle for more women's rights or took part in other disputes against social injustice, she always remained connected to socialist ideas. She died at the beginning of 1939. Her ashes were scattered in the North Sea.

Namesake of a literature award

The Nienke van Hichtum-prijs (in the original spelling also shortened to N. v Hichtum-prijs ) is a Dutch literary prize that is awarded every two years to authors of children's books. It was launched in 1964 by the Jan-Campert-Stichting .

Movie

The director Pieter Verhoeff filmed the life of Nienke van Hichtum in the film Nynke (with Monic Hendrickx and Jeroen Willems in the leading roles). The basis was the book De Oare Helte (Frisian for "The Other Half"), Dutch title: Eigen Waarde (in German "Self-esteem") by Tineke Steenmeijer-Wielenga .

bibliography

• 1887 - Teltsjes yn skimerjoun
• 1897 - Sip-su, de knappe jongen
• 1898 - Uit verre land
• 1898 - De geschiedenis van den kleine Eskimo Kudlago
• 1899 - Hoe a small Kafferjongen page bij de koning werd
• 1900 - Oehoehoe in de wildernis ( follow-up volume)
• 1901 - Een Kafferse heldin ( follow-up volume)
• 1902 - Afke's tiental (published again in 1957 in Frisian as De tsien fan Martens Afke )
• 1905 - Friesche schetsen
• 1905 - Het apenboek
• 1907 - Een bloemensprookje door Agot Gjems Selmer . Reading book for small children with a foreword by Nienke van Hichtum
• 1908 - The wier ris in âld wyfke
• 1908 - He was eens een oud vrouwtje
• 1911 - Moeders distribute
• 1911 - Kajakmannen, Groenlandsche avonturen , ( Kayakmen: Tales of Greenland Seal Catchers ) Original by Signe Rink , wife of Hinrich Johannes Rink (retold)
• 1913 - Oude en nieuwe behave
• 1918 - De tooverhoed ( retold )
• 1920 - Gouden sprookjes van gebrs. Grimm (retold)
• 1921 - Vertellingen uit de Duizend en één Nacht (Stories from 1001 Nights ) (translated)
• 1922 - Het groot vertelselboek
• 1923 - Het leven en de wondbaren lotgevallen van Robinson Crusoë (retold)
• 1924 - Jetse, een Friesche vertelling (later published by Jelle van Sipke-Froukjes .)
• 1924 - De verstandige poedel
• 1929 - Winnie de Poeh , for Dutch children, retold by Nienke van Hichtum
• 1930 - De prinses op de erwt (retold)
• 1930 - Four dozen kilometers door de Poolwoestijn
• 1931 - Sprookjes van Hauff (originally De mooiste wonderverhalen van Wilhelm Hauff ) (adaptation)
• 1932 - Jelle van Sipke-Froukjes
• 1932 - Oom remus vertelt sprookjes van de oude plantage aan den small jongen. , Original by Joel Chandler Harris , (adaptation)
• 1933 - Russian sprookjes
• 1934 - Zwarte Jacob van den Valkenburg
• 1936 - (with Jop Pollmann ), Het Spel van Moeder en Kind. Oude kinderrijmen voor jonge ouders .
• 1936 - Schimmels voor de koets of ... vlooien voor de koekepan?
• 1937 - Drie van de oude plaats , edited in 1950 and published in Frisian as Jonge Jaike fan it Aldhiem
• 1937 - Oude bekenden , published in 2003 as Alde kunde, in mearkeboek

after her death

• 1939 - Nienke van Hichtum vertelt weer
• 1939 - De jonge priiskeatser (Friese versie van Jelle van Sipke-Froukjes .)
• 1948 - Checked bloemetjes, een bundel heel kleine verhaaltjes

Web links

• Manuscripts by Sjoukje MD Bokma de Boer (Nienke van Hichtum)
• Portrait in Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon Nederland
• about BOKMA DE BOER, Sjoukje Maria Diderika Biographical reference work of the labor movement in the Netherlands (Dutch)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ De zaak-Troelstra. Leeuwarder Courant , November 1, 1899, accessed March 27, 2016 (Dutch). 
2. ↑ Collectie Hichtum , on liederenbank.nl.