Godfried Bomans

Biography

Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans (2 March 1913 – 22 December 1971) was a Dutch author and television personality. Though much acclaimed in the Netherlands, much of his work remains untranslated into English. Already as a pupil in high school Bomans showed literary interest; he became editor of school newspapers and published short stories, even in literary magazines. In 1943 he quit his studies and moved back to Haarlem, where he helped save a number of persecuted Jews, for which he received the distinction Righteous Among the Nations. He is best known for his books of modern-day fairy tales and his short, humorous pieces full of wit, parody and mild irony. In 1950 he began an artist's club in Haarlem called Teisterbant, that became better known for its literary influences rather than other arts. He was a widely read author in the 1950s and 1960s, and a seven-volume edition of his collected Works was published between 1996 and 1999. His phantasy book Erik, or the Little Insect Book (1940), widely read during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945), was made into a film in 2004. A staunch admirer of the works of Charles Dickens, Bomans was a founding member of the Haarlem Branch of the Dickens Fellowship. In 1969 The Dickens Fellowship London made him a Vice-President (an Honorary Member) in order to recognize his efforts to promote Dickens' works. An anthology of his collected writings on Dickens was published posthumously in February 1972.