Work
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ALCIBIADES
Prose
2023
Prose
2023
‘History rarely repeats itself in a blatant manner, but when the events are over, it often turns out to have performed an old play behind new masks and in updated…
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SONNETS 2021
Poetry
2022
Poetry
2022
Sonnets 2021 is the last compilation of the sonnets in response to current events, which Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer published in 2021 with a biweekly frequency in the book supplement of…
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MONTEROSSO MON AMOUR
Prose
2022
National Bookweek Gift 2022
Prose
2022
National Bookweek Gift 2022
‘Does dissatisfaction become contentment when you resign yourself to it?’ Carmen, a middle aged childless woman, is not so sure. She decides to take a leap into the depths of…
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QUATTRO IDILLI
Poetry
2021
Poetry
2021
A trilingual edition of Idyll 1, Idyll 4, Idyll 61 (The old words of a time that is still yet to come) and Idyll 70 (Gongula), with the Dutch original,…
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GRAND HOTEL EUROPE
(translated by Michele Hutchison)Prose
2018
Golden Book, 2020Readers' Award (Trouw), 2019Best sold Durch book of 2019
Prose
2018
Golden Book, 2020Readers' Award (Trouw), 2019Best sold Durch book of 2019
Grand Hotel Europa has dominated the Dutch general bestselling list for more than an entire year. More than 300,000 copies have been sold so far. Grand Hotel Europa will be…
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LA SUPERBA
(translated by Michele Hutchison)Prose
2016
Libris Prize, 2014Tzumprize, 2014Inktaap Prize, 2015Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Linguistics, 2016
Prose
2016
Libris Prize, 2014Tzumprize, 2014Inktaap Prize, 2015Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Linguistics, 2016
This novel is set in Genoa, the labyrinthine port city (nicknamed ‘the Superb’) where the author has been living for the past five years. Migration is the central theme of…
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QUARANTAINE
DIARY IN TIMES OF CONTAMINATIONNon-fiction
Prose
2020
Non-fiction
Prose
2020
In the spring of 2020, the world fell prey to a pandemic due to the Sars-CoV-2 virus. Northern Italy was among the hardest hit areas in the world. Ilja Leonard…
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SONNETS 2020
Poetry
2021
Poetry
2021
Since 1 January 2018, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has been writing a sonnet about the news for the newspaper every other week. These columns in poetry form are printed every other…
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THE MANY-VOICED MAN
THE COMPLETE WORKS FOR THEATRE 2007-2020Theatre
2020
Theatre
2020
Since 2007, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has delivered a stage text almost every year. This has resulted in full-length work such as Malpensa, Blueprint for an Even Better Life, The Lawyer,…
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SONNETS 2019
Poetry
2020
Poetry
2020
Since 1 January 2018, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has been writing a sonnet about the news for the newspaper every other week. These columns in poetry form are printed every other…
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THE PROSECUTRIX
A TRAGEDY IN TWO ACTSTheatre
2020
Theatre
2020
In the Western theater repertoire there are hardly any female roles that can compare to classic male protagonists like Hamlet, Oedipus or Uncle Wanja. Zuidpool is changing that and is…
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UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS
ON THE USEFULNESS AND DISADVANTAGE OF THE IRONY FOR LIFENon-fiction
2019
Non-fiction
2019
“What doubt is for science,” wrote the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), “that is irony for personal life.” But in the social debate, irony soon leads to indifference. And Kierkegaard…
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SONNETS 2018
Poetry
2019
Poetry
2019
Since 1 January 2018, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has been writing a sonnet about the news for the newspaper every other week. These columns in poetry form are printed every other…
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JUST CALL IT LOVE
A COMEDY OF LUST AND AFFECTIONTheatre
2019
Toneel Publieksprijs TAQA De Vest, 2019Delftse Kijker, 2019
Theatre
2019
Toneel Publieksprijs TAQA De Vest, 2019Delftse Kijker, 2019
The bitter, touching comedy Just Call It Love stages a relay of encounters in the famous Majestic Imperial Hotel, where hundreds of rooms have room for loneliness. The play follows…
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THE SECRET LODGING
A FREE ADAPTATION OF THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKTheatre
2017
Theatre
2017
The diary of Anne Frank is more than a sacred book of murdered innocence, a testimony of the Shoah that commands compulsory awe and an untouchable monument that seems to…
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PEACHEZ
A ROMANCEProse
2017
Prose
2017
‘The Professor, the Bikini Model and the Suitcase Full of Trouble’ ran the headline in The New York Times in 2013, above an article about an Oxford professor of particle…
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FLASHFICTION
ULTRASHORT NOVELSProse
2017
Prose
2017
An anthology of the ultrashort stories in Harsh Facts, One Hundred Novels (2010)
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OF WAR AND LOVE
A SONG OF HEROESPoetry
2017
Poetry
2017
An epyllion in Theocritan style about the Trojan War, revisited in a modern age. In rhyming alexandrines.
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LETTERS FROM GENOA
Non-fiction
Prose
2016
Non-fiction
Prose
2016
Letters from Genoa is the natural counterpart to La Superba. It takes place largely in its title city and discusses La Superba and how it was received. However, it is…
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DUETS
WITH ERIK JAN HARMENSPoetry
2016
Poetry
2016
A collection of thirty poems written four-handedly by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and Erik Jan Harmens about the fact that the world is falling to pieces.
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CHARACTERS
LETTER TO MYSELF AT A YOUNGER AGEProse
2015
Prose
2015
A short, autobiographical novel about the theft of the Characters by Theophrastus.
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FORTUNE SEEKERS
Non-fiction
2015
E. Du Perron Award
Non-fiction
2015
E. Du Perron Award
About refugees, migrants, fear and hope. According to Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, the massive immigration to Europe cannot be stopped. ‘And what is inevitable is best organized as well as possible.’…
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IDYLLS
NEW POETRYPoetry
2015
VSB Poetry Prize, 2016Jan Campert-prize, 2015Awater poetry prize, 2016E. du Perronprize, 2015
Poetry
2015
VSB Poetry Prize, 2016Jan Campert-prize, 2015Awater poetry prize, 2016E. du Perronprize, 2015
“He invaded poetry like Genghis Khan. His scorched verses crushed the serfs and left them trembling with fear and awe. And then he went silent. He spent the next seven…
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GIRO GIRO TONDO
AN OBSESSIONPoetry
2015
Poetry
2015
As a gift for the Week of Dutch and Belgian Poetry 2015, printed in an edition of more than 20 thousand copies, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer wrote a crown of sonnets…
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FROM MELANCHOLY TO THE NIGHT
Prose
2014
Prose
2014
A short novel situated in the ugliest city of the Netherlands (Tilburg).
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CONSTANTIJN HUYGENS, VOICES OF THE HAGUE
WITH FRANS BLOMNon-fiction
2013
Non-fiction
2013
A textedition with a poetic translation and introduction of the Voces Haganae of the Dutch poet and diplomat Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687).
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MINISTER KWIST
A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FALL OF THE LEAST KNOWN MEMBER OF THE FIRST RUTTE CABINETProse
2012
Prose
2012
In Minister Kwist we closely follow the final days of the first Rutte cabinet. And by looking over the shoulder of the least well-known minister from that cabinet. Kwist, minister…
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THE MINISTRY OF SPECIFIC AFFAIRS
Non-fiction
2011
Non-fiction
2011
A selection of the columns on Dutch and international politics.
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THE UPHILL-DOWNHILL PHILOSOPHY
TO ROME ON A BIKENon-fiction
2010
Non-fiction
2010
At 4pm on June 1st 2008, a poet weighing upwards of 100 kilos and a petite Russian photographer decided to set off from Leiden on their bikes, with the idea…
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GREEK MYTHS
Non-fiction
2010
Non-fiction
2010
Every generation has its book of Greek myths. Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer has written one for the 21st century. Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer took the poetry world by storm in 1998 with…
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HARSH FACTS
ONE HUNDRED NOVELSProse
2010
Prose
2010
A collection of exactly one hundred very short novels, of a maximum of 500 words each.
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PEACE ACCUSED
Theatre
2010
Theatre
2010
A theater monologue originally written in Italian in the form of a defense for a court about the absurdities of modern life. Premiere: May 31, 2010, Aut Aut, Genova. Actress:…
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OLD & NEW LEIDSCHE
TALES OF A CITY (WITH ONNO BLOM)Anthologies
2010
Anthologies
2010
An anthology of classical stories about the Dutch city of Leiden, cosen by Onno Blom and Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, enriched by new stories especially written for the collection by Maarten…
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THERE’S EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD
Anthologies
2009
Anthologies
2009
An anthology of the Dutch poet Lucebert (1924-1994).
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RUPERT, A CONFESSION
(translation Michele Hutchison)Prose
2009
Anton Wachterprize, 2002
Literatureprize Gerard Walschap, 2003Prose
2009
Anton Wachterprize, 2002
Literatureprize Gerard Walschap, 2003Rupert has been accused of a terrible crime, and his imagined defense begins the night he met the love of his life, Mira. By turns shockingly honest, incredibly funny, and…
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CANON OF EUROPEAN POETRY (WITH GERT JAN DE VRIES)
Anthologies
2009
Anthologies
2009
An anthology of European poetry from Homer until the present day, in the original languages with Dutch translations and an introduction.
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THE MOON HAS NO NEED OF LOVE
AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE POEMS OF ILJA LEONARD PFEIJFFERAnthologies
Poetry
2008
Anthologies
Poetry
2008
An anthology of the poems of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (edited by Özcan Akyol) in the pocket series of classics from Dutch literature.
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THE MAN OF MANY MEANS
COLLECTED POEMS 1998-2008Poetry
2008
Poetry
2008
This collection of Collected Poems 1998-2008 contains the award-winning and acclaimed collections Van de vierkant man (1998), The glimmering of the welkwiek (2001), Dolores (2002) and In the name of…
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MALPENSA
A DUET FOR VENTURE CAPITALISTSTheatre
2008
Theatre
2008
Two Dutch businessmen wait for the delayed flight to Rome Fiumicino at Malpensa airport near Milan. To kill the time they get into conversation with each other. That is to…
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DISPATCHES FROM A SECOND LIFE
Non-fiction
2007
Non-fiction
2007
After his avant-garde Pirandello-esque novel, Real Life, Ilja Pfeijffer decided to try out other lives, namely Se- cond Life, a multi-player virtual world accessed via the internet. Economists are fascinated…
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THE CENTURY OF MY DAUGHTER
A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTSTheatre
2007
Theatre
2007
A political satire on the conservative restauration policy of the Dutch governments in rhyming alexandrines, set in the near future, when the best actor of the Netherlands takes the dead…
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REAL LIFE: A NOVEL
Prose
2006
Prose
2006
Real Life: a Novel is a book in the tradition of Italo Calvino’s ground-breaking IF ON A WINTER NIGHT’S A TRAVELER. It is at once a gripping and enchanting story…
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SPARKLING MORN
Anthologies
2006
Anthologies
2006
An anthology of the Dutch poet Hendrik Marsman (1899-1940)
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IN THE NAME OF THE DOG
THE GREAT POEMSPoetry
2005
Poetry
2005
In the name of the dog contains sixteen poems that can truly be called ‘great’ in every respect: each individual poem is a hymn that sings like a dog and…
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DEATH DANCE
Poetry
2005
Poetry
2005
A poem by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer with artwork by Roos Custers.
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THE MANIPULATIVE MODE
POLITICAL PROPAGANDA IN ANTIQUITY: A COLLECTION OF CASE STUDIES (WITH K.A.E. ENENKEL)Non-fiction
2004
Non-fiction
2004
This book deals with political propoganda in classical antiquity, exploring the contexts, strategies, and parameters of a fascinating phenomenon that has often been approached with anachronistic models or completely ignored….
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HET GROTE BAGGERBOEK
Prose
2004
Prose
2004
An astonishing and shocking literary epic about the world of dredging. You will never read anything else like this. A man who works on a dredging boat bumps into a…
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THE SECRET OF THE MURDERED MAUNDER
ESSAYS ON POETRYNon-fiction
2003
Non-fiction
2003
What’s to become of poetry? Everyone is versifying anything, everything is allowed and nothing is bad. High time for new standards and values. The secret of the Murdered Maunder is…
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DOLORES
ELEGIESPoetry
2002
German Literature Prize of Nordrhein-Westfahlen, 2002
Poetry
2002
German Literature Prize of Nordrhein-Westfahlen, 2002
Dolores contains twenty-five compact, exuberant, screamingly recognizable poems about a great love, which, like all great loves, is characterized by despair and failure.
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DE ANTIEKEN
Non-fiction
2000
Non-fiction
2000
In De Antieken, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer tells classical literature’s tale from Homer to the fall of Rome. He does so in ways that are so infectious, so original that they…
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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF BACCHYLIDES
PROCEEDINGS OF A COLLOQUIUM HELD AT THE VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT AMSTERDAM (WITH S.R. SLINGS)Non-fiction
1999
Non-fiction
1999
In his own time Bacchylides was considered the equal of Pindar, the most famous representative of archaic Greek lyric. Until the publication of the London papyrus in 1897; the study…
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FIRST PERSON FUTURES IN PINDAR
Non-fiction
1999
Non-fiction
1999
This book is about passages where Pindar uses the future tense with reference to himself or to his song. It addresses the question as to exactly what the function is…
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THREE AEGINETAN ODES OF PINDAR
A COMMENTARY ON NEMEAN V, NEMEAN III & PYTHIAN VIIINon-fiction
1999
Non-fiction
1999
A study of three epinicia of Pindar, which have in common that they celebrate victories of Aeginetan athletes and that they respond to the contemporary political situation in Aegina and…
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OF THE SQUARE MAN
Poetry
1998
C. Buddingh'-prize, 1999
Poetry
1998
C. Buddingh'-prize, 1999
From first poem to last, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s debut collection is remarkable for both its rich imagery and sounds and its varied themes and compositions. His ‘butter-baked images and bulimic…