  ferdinand bordewijk' (amsterdam, 10 october 1884 â the hague 28 april 1965) was a dutch author. his style, which is terse and symbolic, is considered new objectivity and magic realism. he was awarded the prestigious p.c. hooftprijs in 1953 and the constantijn huygensprijs in 1957. character (1997), an academy award-winning film directed by mike van diem, was based on his karakter (1938). ==biography== ferdinand bordewijk was born in amsterdam and studied law at leiden university. after graduation he worked at a rotterdam law firm. after his retirement he moved to the hague. he was married to the composer johanna bordewijk-roepman. he wrote the libretto for her opera rotonde (1941). ==works== thumb|blokken (1931) thumb|bint (1934) his first published work was a volume of poetry titled paddestoelen ("mushrooms") under the pen-name ton ven. it was not particularly well received. his breakthrough came with the short novels blokken ("blocks", 1931), knorrende beesten ("growling animals", 1933) and bint (1934), and two longer works rood paleis ("red palace", 1936) and karakter ("character", 1938). blokken was a dystopian work which was perceived as a criticism of communism. it is comparable to aldous huxley's brave new world, which appeared one year later and which bordewijk deemed to be junk ("een enorme prul"). ==bibliography== * 1916 â paddestoelen (under the pseudonym "ton ven") * 1918 â een koning van de frase (a king of the phrase) in: groot nederland * 1919 â fantastische vertellingen, verhalen (fantastic tales), short stories * 1923 â fantastische vertellingen, tweede bundel (fantastic tales ii), short stories * 1924 â fantastische vertellingen, derde bundel (fantastic tales iii), short stories * 1931 â blokken (cubes), novel * 1933 â knorrende beesten; de roman van een parkeerseizoen (novel) * 1934 â bint, de roman van een zender (novel) * 1935 â de laatste eer, grafrede (the last honor, eulogy) * 1935 â t ongure huissens * 1936 â rood paleis; ondergang van een eeuw (red palace, downfall of the century) * 1936 â ijzeren agaven; studie in zwart met kleuren * 1937 â de wingerdrank (short stories) * 1938 â karakter; roman van zoon en vader (novel). made into a 1997 dutch/belgian film, directed by mike van diem. * 1940 â de korenharp * 1940 â drie toneelstukken (three plays) * 1941 â apollyon * 1946 â eiken van dodona (oak
1884_births 1965_deaths Constantijn_Huygens_Prize_winners Dutch_novelists P._C._Hooft_Award_winners Writers_from_Amsterdam