Connie Palmen

Biography

Connie Palmen (b. 1955), who studied Dutch and philosophy, rose to instant fame with her first novel, De wetten (The Laws, 1991), which became one of Holland’s greatest literary successes. Her next two novels, De vriendschap (The Friendship, 1995) and I.M. (1998), also turned out to be best-sellers. She went on to publish Geheel de uwe (Sincerely Yours, 2004) and Lucifer (2007), her latest novel to date. Palmen has also published several collections of essays: Het weerzinwekkende lot van de oude filosoof Socrates (The Revolting Fate of the Old Philosopher Socrates, 1992), Echt contact is niet de bedoeling (Personal Contact is not Desired, 2000) and Een kleine filosofie van de moord (A Short Philosophy of Murder, 2004). She was awarded the AKO Literature Prize for De vriendschap. Her work has meanwhile been translated into 20 languages.

Titles

The Friendship

(De vriendschap, 1995)

A thirty-year-old psychologist-philosopher recoils from the indigestible and inaccessible language of academia. Instead of her dissertation she writes a letter to her bosom friend. Her studies concern everyone, not just an elite. ‘Writing is giving your mind another body,’ she writes, ‘so why shouldn’t that body be an attractive one?’ This twenty-page literary letter is the surprising conclusion of the three-part novel De vriendschap. Continued...

I.M.

(I.M., 1998)

Shortly after the publication of her first novel, De wetten (The Laws, 1991), Connie Palmen met the notorious interviewer and journalist Ischa Meijer. It was love at first sight. The success of Palmen’s début and her love affair with a celebrity made her a public figure overnight. February 1995 saw the appearance of her second novel De vriendschap, but a few weeks previously fate had struck a dreadful blow when Ischa Meijer died of a heart attack. Palmen’s new documentary novel I.M. (Ischa Meijer, In Memoriam, In Margine) covers these four years of her life. Continued...

Sincerely Yours

(Geheel de uwe, 2002)

In her previous novel, I.M. (1998), Palmen wrote an autobiographical ‘in memoriam’ about Ischa Meijer, her lover who had died suddenly, just before the publication of Palmen’s second book, The Friendship (1995). Meijer, a colourful journalist and a passionate, engaging, though tormented personality, is also the main character of Palmens new novel Sincerely Yours. Although Meijer, who was a nationally known figure, is clearly recognizable as Salomon (Mon) Schwartz, it wasn’t Palmen’s intention to create a true-to-life biographical portrait of him. Continued...