Koning Cool: An Interview with Author Hans Koning

Author extraordinaire Hans Koning was born Amsterdam and remembers being in high school when the Germans invaded his country on May 10, 1940. Koning, thankfully, managed to escape, and in 1942, he fled to England where he enlisted in The British Army (7 Troop, 4 Commando). After the stint, Koning attended The University of Amsterdam and The Sorbonne. A quick review: after university, Koning was invited to Indonesia to take part in a radio program on western arts and literature. When his contract was up, Koning decided to go back to Holland and saw his way back through his homeland by way of Los Angeles. After some time, Koning returned to America and boarded a Greyhound bus to New York City where he found a job in publicity at the Dutch cultural attaché’s office. Ever the traveler, Koning moved yet again, this time to Mexico where he wrote his first novel, the one that would Koning’s career as a great writer of great fiction that was always on the cutting edge, always unexpected and original and always well-received. The book was "The Affair."

Like so many foreign authors in the United States, Koning initially found it difficult to find an American base audience. Sadly, this is not uncommon. Many great foreign writers do not get published in the U.S. for some time and often, it is a younger editor who spots the talent and is willing to take the chance. What’s more, as more and more sales people are driving editorial decisions at the big houses, it becomes even harder for literature, let alone foreign literature or any work in translation, to find a home, regardless of how worthy or wonderful the book, a fact many foreign writers, including the late and great Marguerite Duras also came up against before her book The Lover was finally published to great acclaim (the book was initially rejected by many houses who felt the book “too foreign” for American audiences).

In Koning’s case, it took two years before “The Affair” found a good home with the excellent publisher Alfred A. Knopf where, after publication, the book won Koning considerable success and excellent reviews and set Koning on course as a writer of great fiction. Since then, Koning has established himself as one of the foremost writers today, having written thirteen novels as well as numerous works of nonfiction that cover topics as broad ranging as China, Che Guevara, Russia, and so much more.

It’s likely you’ve seen Koning’s work many times in The New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly I had the great honor of publishing Koning’s novel Pursuit of a Woman on the Hinge of History when I was running my own imprint - Lumen Editions. “Pursuit” not only garnered great critical success with reviews from The New York Times and all the big nationals, but also had tremendous attention in general and demand. When Koning writes, as I knew when I bought the book, people will stop and they will read and they will listen to what he has to say. They do this because he is established but more, because Koning delivers the unexpected. His novels, while similar in that they all bear the Koning style and grace of writing, manage to be remarkably different. Like the author himself, the books keep us thinking, keep us on our toes, and always until the last page, keep us guessing and wanting more.

Article Author: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti

Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti is a published writer in both the United States and Europe. She is widely known for her music commentary, particularly her writings about Bob Dylan about whom she runs a highly-trafficked site. …

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