Bea Vianen

Beatrice Sylvia Vianen (6 November 1935 in Paramaribo – 6 January 2019) was a Surinamese writer and poet who went by the name Bea Vianen.[2] Bea Vianen was the first Surinamese woman who had a book published by a Dutch publishing house (Querido).[3]

Bea Vianen
Born
Beatrice Sylvia Vianen

6 November 1935
Paramaribo, Suriname
Died6 January 2019(2019-01-06) (aged 83)
Paramaribo, Suriname
NationalitySuriname
Occupation(s)Writer, poet
Notable workSarnami, Hai (1969)
Strafhok (1971)[1]

Biography

Bea Vianen was of both African and Indian ancestry. At the age of eight, her mother died of tuberculosis, and she was put in a Catholic foster home.[4] Vianen went to the Netherlands in 1957 for her Bachelor of Education.[5] Vianen wrote mainly in Dutch, but occasionally in Sranan Tongo,[6] and her writing contained many autobiographical elements.[7] Her first novel was Sarnami, Hai or "Surinam I am" in 1969,[6] a coming of age story of a young East Indian girl in a country torn apart by religious and ethnic differences, and a colonial past.[7] It's a bleak story set in a world without love, but also about a young woman who persists in life.[8]

Vianen also wrote poetry, which has been collected in Liggend stilstaan bij blijvende monumenten (1975).[7] In 1978, she started to work for Avenue for whom she travelled to places like Peru, Colombia and Ecuador. The journeys resulted in many poems, and many personal dramas.[4]

Vianen was an admirer of the Trinidadian novelist V. S. Naipaul.[6] Vianen died in Paramaribo on 6 January 2019 at the age of 83.[3]

References
  1. "Bea Vianen". Good Reads. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  2. Bea Vianen in the Digitale Bibliotheek Nederlandse Letteren (Dutch)
  3. "Schrijfster Bea Vianen toonde een verdeeld Suriname van binnenuit". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 7 January 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  4. "Bea Vianen, 6 november 1935 – 6 januari 2019". De Groene Amsterdammer (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  5. "In Memoriam Bea Vianen Suriname 1935-2019". Repeating Islands. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. Katharina M. Wilson (1991). An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. Taylor & Francis. p. 1299. ISBN 978-0-8240-8547-6.
  7. "De Nederlandse en Vlaamse auteurs". Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). 1985. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  8. Pos, Hugo (1973). "Inleiding tot de Surinaamse literatuur". Digital Library for Dutch Literature. Retrieved 16 May 2020.


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