Marion Bloem

In Dutch the letter "V" is the letter of "vrouw" (woman). In this novel, De V van Venus, by the Dutch author Marion Bloem the letter "V" is the letter of "Venus", the name of the main character.

Venus van Oosten is a writer. One day, when she disappears, her editor collects her notes and computer files in order to try to piece together her story, hoping this story can be published as a work by Venus. De V van Venus is this story. It consists of notes and parts written by Venus van Oosten, selected and arranged by her editor, and the story discovered by her editor. The story is built up from these two revolving complementary perspectives. Like Marion Bloem, Venus van Oosten (= 'Venus of the East') is a Dutch writer with an Indonesian background. Every chapter starts with one, two or more key words that invariably start with the letter "V": Versjes, vervreemding, vrijgevochten, venusheuvel, vagina, vingeren, visitekaartje (Chapt 18), vaste verkering (Chapt 19), verloren tijd en voorspelbaarheid (Chap 20), Vrijdag (Chap 21), verzekeringen en Valkenswaard (Chap 22). Most of these words are pointers to identity and growing up. Some words point toward spiritual development and insight, e.g. Varanasi (Chap 24) and vikshepa-sakti (Chap 64).

While many words often appear in binary pairs, such as man & woman, or Adam & Eve, Venus is not directly associated with a (supposedly) complementary figure. De V van Venus is the story of the search for Venus, and as Venus is a woman, it is also the search for woman, the identity of what makes a woman, or what a woman, i.e. Venus needs.

De V van Venus was published in 2004. It is a powerful and original novel that shows that Marion Bloem has stepped out the of limited corner of "Indo-Dutch" post-colonial literature, and beyond activist feminism. Bloem (1952) has written a surprisingly large number of books after her debut Geen gewoon Indisch meisje (No Ordinary Indo Girl) in 1983.

In November 2022 she was awarded the prestigious Constantijn Huygens Award for her whole work of novels, stories and poetry.… (altro)