A Leak in the Silence: The Poetry of Hans Faverey

Abstract

A Leak in the Silence: The Poetry of Hans Faverey Francis R. Jones (bio) Life and Work Hans Faverey was born in Paramaribo, now the capital of Suriname, in 1933. He moved to Amsterdam as a boy, where he lived until his death in 1990. Alongside his poetic work, he was a lecturer in clinical psychology at the University of Leiden. He was married to the Croatian poet and comparative literature scholar Lela Zeckovic. Faverey’s poetic reputation grew slowly. His first collection, Gedichten [Poems] of 1968 gained cautious critical acclaim: it was awarded the Amsterdam Poetry Prize but was seen by some as “difficult” and “hermetic.” Though mysterious, neverthless these poems have an icy inner coherence of theme and mood. To quote one of them in full: Een lek in het zwijgen: noise—. A leak in the silence: noise—. Welke codes? welke filters? (De 1e druif: pets! de 2e druif: pets! What codes? what filters? (The 1st grape: splat! The 2nd grape: splat! de de- The th- Gedichten II, which followed in 1972, was similar in both content and reception. The third volume, Chrysanten, roeiers [Chrysanthemums, Rowers] of 1977, however, which gained the Jan Campert Prize, met with undiluted praise. The poems are indeed more accessible, though they retain a sense of mystery and paradox. They are also slightly longer, setting a tone and format which he was to retain for the rest of his poetic life: [End Page 458] De chrysanten, die in de vaas op de tafel bij het raam staan: dat The chrysanthemums which are in the vase on the table by the window: these zijn niet de chrysanthen die bij het raam op de tafel in de vaas staan are not the chrysanthemums which are by the window on the table in the vase. De wind die je zo hindert en je haar door de war maakt, The wind which is annoying you so and making a mess of your hair, dat is de wind die je haar verwart; het is de wind waardoor je niet meer gehinderd wilt worden als je haar in de war is. this is the wind which is messing up your hair; it is the wind you no longer want to be annoyed by when your hair is in a mess. Faverey’s reputation was confirmed and strengthened by the volumes which followed: Lichtval [Lightfall] (1981), Zijden kettingen [Silken Chains] (1983), Hinderlijke goden [Troublesome Gods] (1985), and Tegen het vergeten [Against Forgetting] (1988). By the time of his last collection, Het ontbrokene [Default] (1990), Hans Faverey was generally recognized as the Netherlands’ most eminent poet. Shortly before his death in 1990, he was awarded the prestigious Constantijn Huygens Prize for his whole oeuvre. Events and Landscapes These are the biographical details. But what reflection do they have in his work? The answer is precious little, at first glance anyway. As the poems quoted above show, Hans Faverey’s poetry avoids easy messages and conventional forms. There are no simple landscapes or narratives, presented for their own picturesque sake or in order to mirror the poet’s emotional state. As Faverey said in a 1988 interview: “You can’t see from my poetry what I’m like in daily life.” But he continued: “The autobiographical in it is piecemeal, is assembled on it or sneaks inside, through associations, through ideas.” And when we look closer, we can indeed sometimes see traces of his work as a clinical psychologist, for example. As in this poem (from Chrysanthemums, Rowers) prompted by his seeing the encephalogram of a dying man: [End Page 459] Nu het uur stil staat Now the hour is standing still, ademt alles afscheid uit en stokt. Deze of gene mond lijkt nog te zuigen everything breathes out parting, and stalls. This mouth or that still seems to be sucking op een tong die nauwelijks meer iets terug kan doen. Wat te doen? Verspreidt de stilstand zich met onmogelijke snelheid? at a tongue scarcely able to do anything in return. What is to be done? Is standstill spreading at an impossible speed? Is dit nog riet dat daar wuift? Are these still reeds waving there? Of wordt er alleen nog gewuifd...