Harry Mulisch

Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch was born on 29 July 1927 in Haarlem in the Netherlands. Mulisch's father was from Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the Netherlands after the First World War. Mulisch lived in Amsterdam from 1958 until his death in 2010. Mulisch had two daughters, his daughters Frieda and Anna, with his wife Sjoerdje Woudenberg, and a son, Menzo, from his relationship with Kitty Saal. Death in 2011 Mulisch died in 2010. His death occurred at his Amsterdam home and his family was with him at the time. Culture minister Halbe Zijlstra bemoaned the demise of the "Big Three" as Gerard Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans had already died. ==Works==

Mulisch gained international recognition with the film The Assault (1986), based on his book of the same title (1982). It received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best foreign movie and has been translated into more than twenty languages. His novel The Discovery of Heaven (1992) is considered his masterpiece and was voted "the best Dutch-language book ever" by Dutch readers in a 2007 newspaper poll. "It is the book that shaped our generation; it made us love, even obsess, with reading", said Peter-Paul Spanjaard, 32, a lawyer in Amsterdam at the time of Mulisch's death. ==Themes in his work==

A frequent theme in his work is the Second World War. His father had worked for the Germans during the war and went to prison for three years afterwards. As the war spanned most of Mulisch's formative phase, it had a defining influence on his life and work. In 1963, he wrote a non-fiction work about the Eichmann case: Criminal Case 40/61. Major works set against the backdrop of the Second World War are De Aanslag (The Assault), Het stenen bruidsbed, and Siegfried. Mulisch often incorporated ancient legends or myths in his writings, drawing on Greek mythology (e.g. in De Elementen), Jewish mysticism (in De ontdekking van de Hemel and De Procedure), well known urban legends and politics Mulisch was politically left-wing, once signing a book "dedicated in admiration" to Fidel Castro. In 1984, he delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, the Netherlands, under the title Het Ene (The Unifying Principle). ==Bibliography==

Honours • 1977: Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) • 1992: Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) • 1997: Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion • 2001: Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) • 2002: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Awards • 1951: Reina Prinsen Geerligs Award, for the novel "archibald strohalm" • 1957: De Bijenkorf Literary Award, for the novel "The Black Light" • 1957: Anne Frank Award, for the novel "archibald strohalm" • 1961: Athos Prize, for lifetime achievement • 1961: ANV-Visser Neerlandia Prize, for the play "Tanchelijn" • 1963: Vijverberg Prize, for the report "Criminal Case 40/61" • 1977: Constantijn Huygens Prize, for lifetime achievement • 1977: Cestoda Prize • 1977: P. C. Hooft Award, for lifetime achievement • 1986: Deep Sea Award, for the novel "The Assault" • 1993: Multatuli Prize, for the novel "The Discovery of Heaven" • 1993: Mecca Award, for the novel "The Discovery of Heaven" • 1995: Dutch Literature Prize, for his whole oeuvre • 1999: Libris Prize, for the novel The procedure • 1999: Prix Jean Monnet de Littérature Européenne, French prize for the novel "The Discovery of Heaven" • 2003: Inktaap prize, for the novel "Siegfried" • 2003: Premio Flaiano, Italian prize for literature • 2007: Prix européen des jeunes lecteurs, French prize for the novel "Siegfried" • 2007: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Amsterdam • 2007: International Nonino Prize, Italian prize for literature • 2007: shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. • 2007: Prize for best Dutch novel of all time, for the novel "The Discovery of Heaven" • 2009: Golden Century Award, for his entire oeuvre Planetoid Mulisch was honoured with a planetoid in his name on 12 October 2006 (see 10251 Mulisch) ==References==