22. Passion, fear and faith text Marten <strong>van</strong> de Wier photography Christiaan Westgeest Univers 12 21 mei april 2011 ‘There’s a lot of unrest in my mind’
‘I donated that kidney out of anarchy’ What drives successful people? That’s what Univers wants to find out in the section passion, fear & faith. <strong>Tilburg</strong> graduate Anton Dautzenberg’s national break-through was with his novel Samaritaan (Samaritan), about the donation of his kidney to a stranger. At a table outside of café ‘Weemoed’ (Dutch for ‘Melancholy’), Anton Dautzenberg is giving his interviews for the day. “Don’t believe everything he says”, the person before me tells me as he leaves. Dautzenberg revealed to him that the blessed <strong>Tilburg</strong> priest Peerke Donders whispered in his ear that he had to donate a kidney. Dautzenberg and the truth: this has been an issue since the writer from <strong>Tilburg</strong> and graduate of <strong>Tilburg</strong> <strong>University</strong> published a series of fake interviews in a TV-guide. Dautzenberg pretended to have interviewed front man Lemmy Kilmister of the metal band Motörhead about the economic crisis. Lemmy compared the crisis to a vagina, but the broadcasting company VPRO still took the interviews deadly serious. And that while the editors themselves had asked for an absurdistic approach. Dautzenberg sees it as a compliment that they fell for it. Now, his autobiographical novel Samaritaan is out (named after the biblical ‘good Samaritan’), and everyone is wondering if Dautzenberg actually donated a kidney to a complete stranger just for kicks, like the main character. Why do you write? “It’s difficult to answer that question. I think that I want to channel the unrest. There’s a lot of unrest in my mind. I don’t feel like I have anything to say.” Really? Dautzenberg smiles. “You’re right, if you really don’t have the idea that you have anything to say that other people would like to hear, you wouldn’t publish. But publishing is not my first goal. I like reading better than writing, even though writing is not unpleasant. Would you like something to drink?” Anton up until now Anton Dautzenberg (1967) studied Economics at <strong>Tilburg</strong> <strong>University</strong> and later Language and Literature. He worked for an environmental consultancy company, but felt extremely lonely due to his extreme shyness. Later on, he started a commercial text writing company with a partner. Apart from that, he is a writer and a poet. He became well known in <strong>Tilburg</strong> under the pseudonym Troy Titane. He drew absurd cartoons, Dautzenberg owns a commercial text writing company with a partner. He doesn’t like artists who ‘revel in artistry’ but get nothing done. He ‘works’ three or four days a week, in order to pay his way as a literary writer. Because that’s what he loves to do. You say: ‘That’s what I love to do’. That sounds different than that you have to do it because of that ‘unrest’. “My heart lies with literature, with music, with film. But apparently I can’t make music and films. I regard music superior, because it’s more abstract. I can be completely jealous of beautiful music. I recently heard an experimental band in Pop Center 013. They played a track that lasted an hour and in which they let go of all the rules of metal music. At the end, most people had left the hall, but I was deeply moved. I like it when people let go of the idiom.” At the end of last year, Dautzenberg published a collection of stories which even alarmed his own friends. In one story, a boy receives a box with two boxing negroes in it. In another story, a girl survives in the desert by drinking her father’s semen. His new Samaritaan is the first novel ever to have been written completely in dialogues, says Dautzenberg. They are conversations about his kidney donation with doctors, friends, psychologists, and even the kidney itself. This letting go of rules, do you do that yourself in your writing? “I try to, but in language you can never entirely escape from the everyday meaning of language. I try to step outside of the moral, go outside the box. I recognize a lot in surrealist films. After I first saw Fellini’s Otte e mezzo, I didn’t speak for hours. Maybe that’s because to me, life also isn’t linear. I play chess wrote dark poems and satirical columns, and was awarded the title ‘night mayor of <strong>Tilburg</strong>’ for his role in the nightlife and the cultural life. In 2010, he published a collection of stories called Vogels met zwarte poten kun je niet vreten (You can’t devour birds with black feet) under his own name. Last month, his novel Samaritaan (Samaritan) was published. Passion, fear & faith .23 Univers 21 12 april mei 2011
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