Arnon Grunberg

Arnon Grunberg (1971), schrijver van romans, toneelteksten, columns, essays, scripts, journalistieke werken en recensies. Meerdere romans zijn bekroond met literaire prijzen – waaronder Blauwe Maandagen, De Mensheid zij geprezen, De Azielzoeker en Tirza. Vorig jaar bracht Arnon Grunberg zijn zestiende roman uit, De Dood in Taormina. Op zijn palmares staat sinds kort de PC Hooft-prijs 2022, een literaire onderscheiding voor het leven.

‘What is your name and where are you from?’ Kristina asked.
‘Greenberg from Amsterdam,’ I said.
‘All right Mr. Meanwork, would you like to take classes in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening?’ ‘In the afternoon,’ I said, ‘But my name is Greenberg.’ ‘Will you be paying the whole sum at once or in installments?’ A ten-week course was $330. That wasn’t too bad.
‘We will give you a small test first, Mr. Meanwork. Someone will be with you in a moment.” ‘Greenberg!’ I called after her, but she had already started dealing with the next candidate.*

We would like to be able to speak in a way that doesn’t make people ask ‘Where are you from?’ or ‘How long have you been here?’ We would like to not stumble on the sounds anymore. That’s why we write. When you write, you can’t stumble on the sounds. You can mix up the past tense and the future tense, you can use one preposition where there’s supposed to be another preposition, you can conjugate a verb in the wrong way, but you can’t stumble on the sounds. A voice on paper is a voice that will never have bread crumbs sticking in the corners of its mouth, it’s a voice that will never accidentally spit while talking, it’s a voice of which nobody can tell if it’s badly shaven and nobody can stare at its teeth. You know, in a shameless way like that.**

* Amuse-Bouche, ‘We Learn English by Talking to Each Other’ (2001) ** De heilige Antonia (1998)

© Portretfoto: Sander Voerman