CULTURE

Harry Mulisch to talk at the Megaron

One of the so-called «Big Three» of Dutch postwar literature, Harry Mulisch, a prolific modern-day philosopher and writer, will be visiting the Athens Concert Hall today at 7 p.m. to hold an open discussion with the public at the Nikos Skalkottas Hall, within the context of the Megaron Plus series of events. Mulisch, who, along with Willem Frederik Hermans and Gerard Reve, is considered one of the most illustrious writers to come out of the Netherlands in recent years, will discuss his work and experiences. He will be introduced by Greek writer Christos Homenidis, while actor Dimitris Lignadis will read extracts of his works. The son of an Austrian banker who collaborated with the Nazis and a Jewish mother who was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust, Mulisch grew up in the Netherlands. He had ambitions to be a scientist, but instead he became a writer and has used his fiction to explore the Second World War, according to a November 29, 2003 article in The Guardian newspaper. Born on July 29, 1927 in Haarlem to a Jewish mother and a half-German, half-Austrian father, his parents divorced in 1937 and Mulisch was raised by his father’s German housekeeper. His father was a joint director of a banking firm which was a repository for stolen Jewish funds. «I didn’t so much ‘experience’ the war: I am the Second World War,» he wrote in the autobiographical «My Book of Hours» (1975). In addition to novels, Mulisch has written plays, poetry, political pieces and philosophical studies. He has received the Dutch Literature Prize (1995), the P.C. Hooft Prize (1979) and the Constantijn Huygens Prize (1977), as well as being a Nobel Prize nominee in several years. His publications – few of which have been translated into English – include «The Stone Bridal Bed» (novel, 1959), «Criminal Case 40/61, the Trial of Adolf Eichmann» (reportage, 1962), «Two Women» (novel, 1975), «What Poetry Is» (poetry, 1978), «Last Call» (novel, 1985), «The Discovery of Heaven» (novel, 1992), «The Procedure» (novel, 1998) and «Siegfried» (novel, 2001), among others. Admission to Mulisch’s lecture is free of charge with priority coupons, which will be available as of 6 p.m., or 5.30 p.m. in the case of great demand. The lecture will be in Dutch with simultaneous translation into Greek. Athens Concert Hall, 1 Kokkali & Vassilissis Sofias, tel 210.728.2333.

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