Afscheid van domineesland – Anne Wadman en André Roelof Scholten

Abstract

In this paper, which will be part of my biographical study of the Frisian writer Anne Wadman (1919-1997), I will focus on his friendship with a vicar, ten years his senior, André Roelof Scholten (1910-1944). In the period between 1935 and 1944, Wadman and Scholten exchanged over 140 letters in which they dealt with various topics, ranging from family business to poetry and being a poet. The letters give a clear picture of Wadman’s changing perception of both Dutch and Frisian literature. In 1939, when Wadman left his hometown, the little village of Langweer in the isolated southwest of Friesland, to go and study Dutch literature in Amsterdam, a
quarrel about Frisian poetry caused problems for their friendship. The two drifted further apart during the war. At this time, Wadman became influenced by the work of other writers, in particular Menno ter Braak. Scholten meanwhile was completely preoccupied with the work for his parish and was also suffering from poor health. A definite end to their friendship came with Scholten’s early death in the last cold winter of the war. Scholten thus would not live to see his pupil, the young and ambitious Wadman, making his debut on the literary stage. By that time, however, Wadman had found himself a new role model in the person of Menno ter
Braak.