29/10/2015 Studium Generale lecture 'The Messenger And The Parrot' - Kader Abdolah
Over the past 25 years, the cultural identity of the Netherlands has changed due to the large influx of Muslim communities. This intermingling and clash of the two cultures has in itself become an element of what we understand to be today's Europe.
'The Messenger And The Parrot'
Kader Abdolah, having emigrated from Iran several years ago, firmly holds the ability to impress upon his readers the experiences of cultural confusion and displacement. Papagaai vloog over de IJssel (Parrot flew Over The Ijssel) equitably depicts this struggle, adhering to the stories of both newcomers and the original inhabitants.
Kader Abdolah arrived as a stranger to The Netherlands a quarter-century ago. Since then the Persian-Dutch writer, poet, and columnist has catapulted onto the Dutch bestseller lists with The House of the Mosque (2005), voted second best Dutch novel of all time in The Netherlands.
Born in 1954 in Iran, Abdolah studied physics in Teheran and was active in the student resistance. After writing two books about life under the Khomeini regime he fled his homeland in 1985, finally settling in The Netherlands as a political refugee. The self-taught Dutch writer debuted with De Adelaars (1993), a collection of short stories winning the Golden Dog-Ear Award for the best-sold debut of the year. He has since published The Girls and the Partisans (1995), The Journey of the Empty Bottles (1997), Cuneiform (2000) which awarded him the E. du Perron Prize, The Messenger (2008) a more moderate and ‘human’ alternative translation of the Koran, and Parrot Flew Over The Ijssel (2014).
