Bea_Vianen

Bea Vianen

Bea Vianen

Surinamese writer and poet (1935–2019)

Beatrice Sylvia Vianen (6 November 1935 in Paramaribo – 6 January 2019) was a Surinamese writer and poet who went by the name Bea Vianen.[2] Bea Vianen was the first Surinamese woman who had a book published by a Dutch publishing house (Querido).[3]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Biography

Bea Vianen was of both African and Indian ancestry. At the age of eight, her mother died of tuberculosis, and she was put in a Catholic foster home.[4] Vianen went to the Netherlands in 1957 for her Bachelor of Education.[5] Vianen wrote mainly in Dutch, but occasionally in Sranan Tongo,[6] and her writing contained many autobiographical elements.[7] Her first novel was Sarnami, Hai or "Surinam I am" in 1969,[6] a coming of age story of a young East Indian girl in a country torn apart by religious and ethnic differences, and a colonial past.[7] It's a bleak story set in a world without love, but also about a young woman who persists in life.[8]

Vianen also wrote poetry, which has been collected in Liggend stilstaan bij blijvende monumenten (1975).[7] In 1978, she started to work for Avenue for whom she travelled to places like Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. The journeys resulted in many poems, and many personal dramas.[4]

Vianen was an admirer of the Trinidadian novelist V. S. Naipaul.[6] Vianen died in Paramaribo on 6 January 2019 at the age of 83.[3]

References

  1. [1]
    "Bea Vianen". Good Reads. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  2. [2]
    Bea Vianen in the Digitale Bibliotheek Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch)
  3. [3]
    "Schrijfster Bea Vianen toonde een verdeeld Suriname van binnenuit". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 7 January 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  4. [4]
    "Bea Vianen, 6 november 1935 – 6 januari 2019". De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  5. [5]
    "In Memoriam Bea Vianen Suriname 1935-2019". Repeating Islands. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. [6]
    Katharina M. Wilson (1991). An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. Taylor & Francis. p. 1299. ISBN 978-0-8240-8547-6.
  7. [7]
    "De Nederlandse en Vlaamse auteurs". Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). 1985. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  8. [8]
    Pos, Hugo (1973). "Inleiding tot de Surinaamse literatuur". Digital Library for Dutch Literature. Retrieved 16 May 2020.


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