Writer, poet and translator Willem van Toorn died in France on Friday. He was 88 years old. The day before, his latest work, a translation of Franz Kafka’s letters, will be presented under the title I have a lot to write to you And a book about Kafka, Kafka for beginners.

It is no coincidence, because Van Toorn spent decades (re)translating the Czech writer’s works. He has also written extensively about Kafka, in afterword translations and in articles. He took outspoken positions: for example, he translated Kafka’s novel Das Schloss Not more than lock, But if the castleBecause it was thought to be a more common Dutch language.

Willem van Toorn made his debut as a writer in 1959 with the novel The explosion. A year later, his first collection of poetry was published Back in the village. This was the beginning of a long and fruitful writing career: Van Toure wrote more than forty novels, short story collections, children’s books, poetry collections, and essays.

His publisher Querido praises his “large and versatile works,” which are characterized by their “lightness and simplicity evident in great stylistic ability and his engagement with social issues.”

Willem van Toorn was born in Amsterdam in 1935. He grew up in the Oud-West neighborhood, together with the later famous writers Bernlev and K. Scheepers. He wrote an autobiographical novel about his youth the riverin which he charts his youth in colorful detail and the background of the middle-class family in which he grew up, originally from Betuwe.

The title refers to the Waal River, also one of the themes of the book, about which Van Toorn has also written extensively elsewhere: the dam reinforcements of the 1980s and 1990s and the loss of the Dutch landscape. This is also what one of his most famous novels revolves around: Empty landscape (1988).

In addition to Kafka’s works, Van Toorn translated other major writers into Dutch, including Stefan Zweig (including his famous Yesterday’s world), Klaus Mann, Christopher Isherwood, John Updike and E. L. Doctorow. He also translated poetry, and his works have been translated into English, German, Italian, and South African.

Willem van Toorn has received numerous awards, including the Jean Cambert Prize and the A. Roland Holst Bening for his entire work. He was nominated for the AKO Literary Award (the current Pokenbun Literary Award) and the Libris Literary Award, which brings in more money and higher sales figures, but did not win them.

This may indicate a lack of recognition, because Van Toorn did not receive prestigious awards such as the BC Hooft Prize and the Constantin Huygens Prize.

In recent years, he lived in central France, near the city of Chateauroux. He also died there after a short stay in hospital due to pneumonia. Due to pneumonia, the show of his latest work was canceled on Thursday.