11 Facts About Gerard Reve

Gerard Reve himself declared that the primary message in all of his work was salvation from the material world we live in.

Gerard Reve was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was the brother of the Slavicist and essayist Karel van het Reve, who became a staunch anti-communist in his own way; the personal rapport between the brothers was not good.

Religion, according to Gerard Reve, has nothing to do with the literal, the factual, the moral or the political.

Philosophically, Gerard Reve was influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer, whose works he re-read every winter, and even more so by Carl Jung, according to a Dutch painter who spent some time with the author in France to paint several portraits of him.

Gerard Reve's style combines the formal with the colloquial, in a highly recognisable way.

Many doubted the sincerity of his conversion to Catholicism, although Gerard Reve remained adamant about the truthfulness of his faith, claiming his right to individual notions about religion and his personal experience of it.

Early on, the Dutch ministry of culture intervened when Gerard Reve was to receive a grant, citing the obscene nature of his work.

Gerard Reve sometimes welcomed the publicity, but complained about his continual struggle with the authorities, public opinion and the press.

Gerard Reve was prosecuted in 1966 for allegedly breaking a law against blasphemy.

Gerard Reve came from a communist and atheistic family, but converted to Roman Catholicism.

Gerard Reve's ridiculing of some aspects of Catholicism led to tensions in the Dutch Roman Catholic community in the 1960s.