Harry Mulisch

Harry Mulisch (1927–2010) was a Dutch novelist and essayist whose fiction joined historical trauma, myth, philosophy, and political questions. His best-known works include The Assault and The Discovery of Heaven.

The Assault: Harry Mulisch’s 1982 novel follows a Dutch man whose childhood is shaped by a wartime killing and its aftermath. This internationally acclaimed novel made Mulisch’s treatment of occupation and guilt widely known.
Haarlem: Haarlem is a city in the western Netherlands and the capital of North Holland. Mulisch was born and raised in Haarlem, a recurring point of reference in accounts of his life.
Anne Frank: Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish diarist who hid from Nazi persecution in Amsterdam and died at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Mulisch’s 1960 nonfiction book The Future of Anne Frank examined the diary’s meaning and reception.
Mythopoeia: Mythopoeia is the creation or reshaping of myth through literature and other forms of art. Mulisch recasts classical and religious patterns to give modern events mythic dimensions.
Golden Bear: The Golden Bear is the highest award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival. The 1986 film adaptation of The Assault won this award, bringing Mulisch’s story to an international film audience.
The Discovery of Heaven: Harry Mulisch’s 1992 novel follows two friends whose lives intersect with a divine plan concerning the Ten Commandments. Its ambitious blend of friendship, theology, and history is Mulisch’s best-known epic.
Auschwitz: Auschwitz was a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex in occupied Poland during World War II. His Jewish mother’s survival of Auschwitz and his father’s wartime collaboration shaped his writing about guilt and memory.
Ariël (novel): Ariël is a 1956 novel by Dutch writer and journalist Simon Vestdijk. Mulisch’s literary generation included Vestdijk, whose work influenced postwar Dutch debates about the novel.
Historical novel: A historical novel is a work of fiction set in a past period and shaped by its historical conditions. His fiction uses researched events to test how private lives bear the weight of history.
The Assault (1986 film): The Assault is a 1986 Dutch film directed by Fons Rademakers and adapted from Harry Mulisch’s novel. Its international success translated Mulisch’s novel into a widely seen cinematic account of wartime memory.

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