Louis Th. Lehmann 

      latest update 7th January, 2004 (click for Dutch version)


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  Hark; an epibrator, 2000  




BIOGRAFIE

Louis Th. Lehmann, born one sunny day, 19th August 1920 to be precise, in Rotterdam, is a poet, prose writer, translator, graduate lawyer, archaeologist and of course the swinging DJ who treats an enraptured audience to great music every Friday night on Dutch national radio station VPRO. Who doesn't remember that legendary poetry festival Poetry in Carré, on 28th February 1966, when 2000 visitors witnessed Lehmann being the only out of 25 to recite his poems by heart. He made his debut in 1939 in the magazine 'Werk'(Work) and was anthologised twice that same year in: Dichters van dezen tijd (Poets of Our Time; 13th impr.) and in In aanbouw (Under Construction), which, by the way, contains a handsome picture of the artist as a young man. In 1940 his first volume appeared, Subjectieve Reportage (Subjective Reportage; De Vrije Bladen, Leopold, The Hague). His Verzamelde Gedichten (Collected Poems) appeared in 1947 with renowned publisher Alexander Stols and a revised edition appeared in December 2000 under the title Gedichten 1939-1998 (Poetry 1939-1998) with De Bezige Bij. On the 15th December 2000 he spoke to newspaper De Volkskrant: 'If I had to give young poets some good advice: don’t make your debut before you have a steady job. Although I understand that these days these youngsters are quite adapt at giving lectures and performing. This circuit wasn’t as well developed in my day.'

Although the saying 'Thou shalt not anthologise' (Gij zult niet bloemlezen) is one of his, this hasn't kept many anthologisers away from his work – they just include it without consent.

Please visit the Louis Th. Lehmann site.

And browse www.google.com for more information about Lehmann. As far as we know, he is no relation of British author John Lehmann (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/L/LehmannJ.html), so please add his Christian name when surfing.

(-)

Hark; an epibrator
went out epibrating.
The Angelus tolled
from the bell
in the steeple
on the church
of St. Simon-by-the-sea.
A climbing frame,
a climbing frame
From Lord to Mama.

©  Louis Th. Lehmann, 2000
©  translation: Willem Groenewegen, 2004

CONTACT

INTERNATIONAL BOOKINGS
Dutch Literary Productions and Translations Foundation
Mr Bas Pauw: b.pauw@nlpvf.nl
Singel 464
1017 AW  Amsterdam
The Netherlands
tel.: +31 (0)20.620.62.61
fax: +31 (0)20.620.71.79

PUBLISHER
De Bezige Bij Publishing Company
Van Miereveldstraat 1
1071 DW Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31-(0)20-3059810
Fax: +31-(0)20-3059824
E-mail: info@debezigebij.nl
site: http://www.debezigebij.nl/


This page is part of the daily poetry newspaper: Rottend Staal Online


© translation Willem Groenewegen / Rottend Staal Online 2004. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.