Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch author and playwright, born on April 22, 1914, in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Growing up in an academic household, de Hartog developed a profound connection to the sea, which led him to work as a sailor from a young age. He served in the Netherlands Merchant Marines during World War II, where his experiences inspired his literary work. His 1940 novel, "Hollands Glorie," became a symbol of Dutch resistance during the Nazi occupation, even as it led him to become a wanted man due to its controversial content.
De Hartog eventually escaped to England, where he wrote his most celebrated play, "The Fourposter," which won a Tony Award and was later adapted into the musical "I Do! I Do!" After relocating to Houston, Texas, he became involved in community service, leading him to author "The Hospital," a critical examination of the American healthcare system. Acknowledged for both his fiction and nonfiction, de Hartog's legacy includes significant contributions to Dutch literature and American social issues. He passed away on September 22, 2002, leaving behind a rich literary and humanitarian legacy.
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Jan de Hartog
Author
- Born: April 22, 1914
- Birthplace: Haarlem, North Holland, the Netherlands
- Died: September 22, 2002
- Place of death: Houston, Texas
Biography
Jan de Hartog was born on April 22, 1914, in Haarlem, the Netherlands, to Arnold Hendrick and Lucretia (Meijjes) de Hartog. De Hartog grew up in an academic home; his father was a minister and professor of theology, and his mother was a professor of medieval mysticism. Obsessed with the sea, de Hartog ran away from home at ten and twelve years old to become a cabin boy, both times retrieved by his father. He attended the Netherlands Naval College but did not graduate. In 1926, de Hartog married Angela Priestly, and the two had four children: Arnold, Sylvia, Nicholas, and Catherine. De Hartog married Marjorie Eleanor Mein in 1961 and adopted two girls, Eva and Julia Kim.
De Hartog spent his early life on the sea, working as a sailor on fishing boats, steamers, and tugboats. He worked as an adjunct inspector with the Amsterdam Harbor Police until 1932. He was a staff member of the Amsterdam Municipal Theater from 1932 until 1937. Jan de Hartog served as a correspondent in the Netherlands Merchant Marines from 1943 to1945, becoming captain and receiving the Netherlands Cross of Merit. In 1961, de Hartog moved to Houston, Texas, where he became the writer-in-residence and a professor of creative playwriting at the University of Houston.
In 1940, de Hartog published Hollands Glorie, which focused on his life experiences working on tugboats. The book instantly became a symbol of Dutch life and inspired Dutch resistance during the country’s occupation by the Nazis. The book was banned and de Hartog became a wanted man. To escape the Nazis, de Hartog hid in a retirement home dressed as an old woman, and eventually was able to escape to England with the help of an underground Spanish network. In England, he discovered that he had been sentenced to death. During his hiding, de Hartog completed his most famous work The Fourposter, which became a Tony award-winning Broadway comedy, and was later adapted into the musical I Do! I Do!
Although well-known for his sea stories and plays, de Hartog also received national acclaim for his nonfiction work. Upon arriving in Texas, de Hartog volunteered at Jefferson Davis County Hospital, community service always being a strong aspect of his Quaker faith. Horrified by the conditions and understaffing of the hospital, de Hartog wrote The Hospital, which detailed the deplorable circumstances and highlighted the gross understaffing and overcrowding that the hospital and others across the country were experiencing. The book received national attention and hospitals received many new volunteers. De Hartog also wrote a nonfiction book about the adoption process and his family’s experiences with the system, called Die Kinderen (The Children: A Personal Record for the Use of Adoptive Parents, 1969).
De Hartog received the Great National Drama Prize for De Ondergang van de Vrijheid in 1939, and a Tony award for The Fourposter in 1952. He died on September 22, 2002. His greatest achievements were strengthening the Dutch resistance and improving the American hospital system.