Christiaan Weijts

Biography

In his earliest work Christiaan Weijts (b. 1976) demonstrated extraordinary talent. The much-praised novels Article 285b (2006) and Via Cappello 23 (2008) are proof that he is capable of melding high and low, the exalted and the earthly in a single story. His sentences fly past, his narrative tone is feather-light, ironic, and humorous – and yet he also manages to take the reader to the nether regions of human existence.

Titles

Art. 285b

(Art. 285b, 2006)

In Christiaan Weijts’s debut novel, love evolves into an obsession. When his girlfriend Victoria Fabers terminates their relationship, Sebastiaan Steijn, the main character in the book, inundates her with telephone calls, sms messages, and e-mails. The stalker justifies his conduct in the novel, but the issue of whether or not he can refute the accusation still remains. The striking feature of Weijts’s novel is the perspective through which readers view the events. They see the situation only through the eyes of the stalker - and only gradually experience growing distaste. Continued...

The window dresser

(De etaleur, 2009)

Having sought inspiration first in music (Article 285b) and then in the visual arts (Via Cappello 23), Christiaan Weijts has now opted for a third kindred art form of dance. In The Window Dresser, apart from giving a leading role to a dancer, he uses dance figuratively, in the rhythm and the cadence of his prose. Continued...