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Jonathan’s Year In Books

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Jonathan Griffioen

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Jonathan Griffioen
(Netherlands, 1987)
Nederlands ►

Jonathan Griffioen (1987) was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Wijk bij Duurstede. He writes about growing up in this small provincial town in his first collection Wijk [District] (2015), which was nominated for the C. Budding’-prize. Griffioen made it into the semi-finals of the NK Poetry Slam 2015. His second collection, Gedichten met een mazda 626 [Poems with a Mazda 626] followed in 2018 and was awarded the J.C. Bloemprijs 2019. It was also long listed for the Grote Poëzieprijs 2019.

Griffioen's first collection Wijk offers up a panoramic view of a teenager’s life. In five long and meandering poems, each ending with a sort of pause, the poet sketches teenagers hanging out on street corne Jonathan Griffioen
(Netherlands, 1987)
Nederlands ►

Jonathan Griffioen (1987) was born in Amsterdam and grew up in Wijk bij Duurstede. He writes about growing up in this small provincial town in his first collection Wijk [District] (2015), which was nominated for the C. Budding’-prize. Griffioen made it into the semi-finals of the NK Poetry Slam 2015. His second collection, Gedichten met een mazda 626 [Poems with a Mazda 626] followed in 2018 and was awarded the J.C. Bloemprijs 2019. It was also long listed for the Grote Poëzieprijs 2019.

Griffioen's first collection Wijk offers up a panoramic view of a teenager’s life. In five long and meandering poems, each ending with a sort of pause, the poet sketches teenagers hanging out on street corners, in small squares and at empty bus shelters. This is where they watch girls – “tight zips with iron tongues and breasts stuffed with socks” – while their mothers lean from their balconys like “flowerpots”, keeping an eye on things. The poems aren’t realistic but strongly associative. Griffioen scrutinizes his youth in a stream-of-consciousness like flow of images and thoughts. His poetry turns from the descriptive to the lyrical, using the repetition of single words and lines to establish rhythm and musicality.

There is an observing and solipsistic strength at play in Griffioen’s work that allows the reader access into the mind of his protagonist. Without reservation, the poetic persona takes the reader on a tour through the different layers of his consciousness. This approach is further developed in Gedichten met een mazda 626 [Poems with a Mazda 626]. The solipsism has clearly been turned up a notch, if only because in this filmically written collection the poetic persona is on the autism spectrum. A narrative has been woven into the poems, which helps sustain a sense of cohesion: the poetic persona stays awake for 40 hours thinking about his dead friend Jimmy who used to drive “a red Mazda 626 from 1990”. Memories of his special-needs school in the forested parts of central Holland and the therapies he had to go through are alternated with memories of Jimmy and visions of a resurrected Jimmy who

falls like a thunderclap a circling void in the sky
out of the circling void in the sky grows a light
the light is red like the mazda the 626626
jimmy’s red mazda 626 from 1990

At times it is as if Jimmy is being celebrated (“but Jimmy I want you Jimmy here I come”) but this declaration of love can equally be interpreted as a desire for the union that comes with death. Death, love and the strong feeling that the poetic persona is trapped in himself are the themes that dominate Griffioen’s second collection.

Griffioen’s work is in some ways related to that of contemporaries Marieke Lucas Rijneveld and Daniël Vis. Like these poets, Griffioen’s poetry is a narrative poetry in which prose sections alternate with more lyrical passages. The vitality of language and images stand out in the work of all these three poets, and they all seem to have parted ways with the notion of the traditional collection. Their poetry creates an artwork, an installation continually offering different aspects of a particular theme.

© Henry Sepers (Translated by Astrid Alben) ...more

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Jonathan Griffioen’s books

Average rating: 3.75 · 112 ratings · 22 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Gedichten met een mazda 626 3.84 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wijk 3.71 avg rating — 38 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	De (t)huiszittergod 3.42 avg rating — 12 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Handboek voor een optimistisch leven by Gijs Assmann, Jaron Beekes, Jelmer Birkhoff 3.80 avg rating — 10 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ook olifanten moeten door by Sebastiaan Andeweg, David Bogaers, Samuel Bom 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Controversiële diersoort by Arnoud Rigter, Sieger Baljon, Gerda Blees it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	De Revisor: Zomer / Fantasy (De Revisor #23) by Jan van Aken, Simone Atangana Bekono, Erik Bindervoet liked it 3.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Abnormale kinderen really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan is Currently Reading

Jonathan Griffioen is currently reading

The Montessori Method

by Maria Montessori

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Apr 14, 2025 07:11PM

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Hemelse mevrouw Frederike: biografie van F. Harmsen van Beek [1927-2009]

by Maaike Meijer

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Jan 13, 2025 08:45AM

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The Idiot

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Jan 02, 2025 10:23PM

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Jonathan Griffioen and 3 other people liked Alexis's review of Feest (Symposium): gesprekken over liefde: "Prachtig inkijkje in het jaar ca 385 voor Christus. Een portret van Socrates door Plato, waarbij een groepje heren op een banket een wedstrijdje doet wie het beste filosofische betoog over de liefde kan geven. Alhoewel, niet Plato zelf is aan het woo" Read more of this review »
Oct 08, 2025 09:18PM · see review
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Jonathan Griffioen wants to read Bekentenissen van Zeno by Italo Svevo	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Griffioen finished reading Stilstaand leeft alles hier by H.H. ter Balkt	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Griffioen finished reading De Tachtigers: een hoorcollege over de literaire vernieuwers van 1880 by Marita Mathijsen	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan Griffioen rated a book it was amazing Aan wie, deze offers (Dutch Edition) by Daniël Vis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Jonathan’s Quotes

“Jesus got up one day a little later than usual. He had been dreaming so deep there was nothing left in his head. What was it? A nightmare, dead bodies walking all around him, eyes rolled back, skin falling off. But he wasn't afraid of that. It was a beautiful day. How 'bout some coffee? Don't mind if I do. Take a little ride on my donkey, I love that donkey. Hell, I love everybody.”
― James Tate

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