REVE, Gerard 1923-2006
(Gerard Kornelis van het Reve, Simon van het Reve)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born December 14, 1923, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; died April 9, 2006, in Belgium. Author. Reve was considered one of the greatest modern Dutch writers and was best known for De avonden: een winterverhaal (1947), which has yet to be translated into English. De avonden made Reve a celebrated name in Dutch letters at an early age. He would go on to enjoy a prolific career, penning novels, poetry, plays, and nonfiction. Reve, who was openly gay, would also become controversial with the publication of Nader tot u (1966), in which he describes having intercourse with God, who takes the form of a donkey. A converted Roman Catholic, Reve found himself in legal trouble because of the book, and he was prosecuted for blasphemy. However, he was found not guilty in 1968. The winner of such awards as the P.C. Hooft Prize and the 2001 Prize of Dutch Letters, Reve saw his work translated into several European languages, as well as English. Among his titles available in English are Melancholia (1951), The Acrobat, and Other Stories (1956), A Prison Song in Prose (1972), and Parents Worry (1990). His Lieve jongens was adapted as the 1980 movie Dear Boys, and De vierde man was also made into an American film titled The Fourth Man (1984). Reve spent the last two years of his life suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's disease.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, April 12, 2006, p. A19.