Herman Heijermans

Heijermans, Herman 

(pen name, Samuel Falkland). Born Dec. 3, 1864, in Rotterdam; died Nov. 22, 1924, in Zandvoort. Dutch writer.

Heijermans joined the Social Democratic Labor Party of the Netherlands in 1895. From 1897 to 1901 he edited the journal De Jonge Gids. His prose works, of which the best is the novel City of Diamonds (1904; Russian translation, 1904), oppose bourgeois society. His dramas The Ghetto (1899), The Seventh Commandment (1900), and All Souls (1905) criticize bourgeois morality. The plays The Good Hope (1901; Russian translation, 1925) and Gook Luck (1911) are devoted to the struggle of the working people.

Although Heijermans’ dramas were influenced by naturalism and symbolism, his best plays display elements of realism. The plays The Rising Sun (1908) and Eva Bonheur (1919) reflect the writer’s efforts to find security in stoic wisdom. Heijermans also wrote the satirical allegory The Wise Tomcat (1920).

WORKS

Toneelwerken, vols. 1–3. Amsterdam, 1965.
Kamertjeszonde. Amsterdam, 1966.
Droompaard en andere falklandjes, 6th ed. Amsterdam, 1968.
In Russian translation:
Glaza, ili neobychainye prikliucheniia loba. St. Petersburg, 1911.
V rabote. Moscow, 1904.
Novoe solntse. St. Petersburg, 1911.

REFERENCES

Lunacharskii, A. V. “Zametki filosofa.” Obrazovanie, December 1906. Pages 90–91.
Dikii, A. D. Povest’ o teatral’noi iunosti. Moscow, 1957. Pages 211–32.
Karsten, G. H. Heijermans. Amsterdam, 1934.
Flaxman, S. H. Heijermans and His Dramas. The Hague, 1954.
Schilp, C. A. H. Heijermans. Amsterdam, 1967.
Jong, E. de. H. Heijermans en de vernieuwing van het Europese drama. Groningen, 1967.

V. V. DANCHEV and V. V. OSHIS [28–671–1 ]