Looking for the incongruous
Marian Beijing
Publisher: Asoka
Date Time
7 July 2021 is 20:00 to 21:00
Description
Biography of Janwillem van de Wetering, who made his debut in 1971 with 'De Lege Spiegel', about his experiences in a Zen monastery in Japan in the late XNUMXs.
Janwillem van de Wetering went to the Far East in 1958 as a sense-seeking twenties and made his debut in 1971 with De lege mirror. He became famous with his series of police novels about Grijpstra and De Gier. In it he incorporated his philosophy of life into an 'article suitable for sale'. He was a widely read author and a welcome guest in the media, where his adventurous life was a rewarding topic of conversation.
Grijpstra en de Gier was adapted into a television series in 2004 and Van de Wetering is still one of the best-selling Dutch writers abroad. His Zen trilogy is still regularly read in Buddhist circles.
In this biography the question is raised whether Van de Wetering was a merchant or a missionary. Newspaper articles, weblogs and documentaries portray a freethinker who succeeded in much of what he undertook. But he was also a complex personality who was constantly looking for a way to allay his anxiety. He wrote about it with style, humor and intelligence. The main message that Buddhism taught him was: detachment is subtle, indifference is stupid.
Table of contents
Prologue 9
Part I – A Restless Soul, 1931-1959
1. Youth 19
2. A boy who went against everything 37
3. Maybe I'll be born again if I write 49
4. Monastic Life 71
Part II – What Ends Begins, 1960-1975
5. Family Life 99
6. In Amsterdam 111
7. Novice Writer 131
Part III – Fame gives you a round head, 1976-1986
8. Without Zen there is no writing 157
9. Fame 183
10. What have we started 205
Part IV - Pure Void, 1987-2008
11. Another life 227
12. Thank you, I'm done here 249
Postscript 269
Overview of Dutch expenditure 273
Sources and bibliography 279
Bibliography 283
Acknowledgments 291
Nuts 202
Marian Beijing
Marjan Beijering has been working as an independent historian since 1998. She studied social history in Rotterdam, worked as a journalist, history teacher and set up heritage projects. She discovered Van de Wetering's work when she started meditating herself. For this biography she researched archives and spoke with relatives, friends and publishers in the Netherlands and the United States. She also visited the monastery in Kyoto where Van de Wetering stayed in the late XNUMXs.
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