Since 2001 Karin Amatmoekrim has been working as a freelancer in marketing and communication.Peter Meel Institute for History, Leiden UniversityĬontinuity through Diversity: The Surinamese Javanese Diaspora and the Homeland Anchorage
In 2004 she published her debut novel Het knipperleven and her second novel Wanneer wij samen zijn in 2006. Amatmoekrim studied psychology and Dutch literature at the University of Amsterdam. In 1981 she emigrated to The Netherlands and has lived in Amsterdam since 1999.
Karin Amatmoekrim was born in 1976 in Paramaribo, Suriname. It is simply,” claims Amatmoekrim, “the story I want to tell at the moment. We read these books because we like them.” She notes that Surinamese Dutch writers have not achieved that position.” Although she did not have a deliberate plan to abandon her Surinamese voice, Titus moves away from the ethnically-specific. It’s not like we read Gabriel García Márquez because we have something to do with South America. Amatmoekrim has difficulty understanding the mindset of the media: “I find it a little shortsighted. Because the novel was deemed “a Surinamese story,” the writer was automatically placed in the category of Surinamese ethnic writers who have little interest to other audiences. Not that Titus has the answers, but it helps to clarify many things and render them less threatening.”Īmatmoekrim has complained about being pigeon-holed in an ethnic corner, especially after the publication of her second novel, Wanneer wij samen zijn. Are we doomed to chaos or do we determine the unfolding of our lives? (Partly because of this questioning and partly due to the simplicityof her literary language, Amatmoekrim has been compared to French existentialist Albert Camus.) These life issues are also the author’s, who says that Titus’ quest is, in part, hers: “These are the questions I ask myself when I look at the world. The novel is about freedom and about what people do with the choices they have in their lives. Set in London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, and New York, Titus is about a man who loses his wife and embarks on a quest to find meaning in his existence. Karin Amatmoekrim has recently published her third novel, Titus (2009).
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