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Eric de Kuyper

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Born in Brussels in 1942, Eric de Kuyper was trained in theatre studies, and started his professional career as a dance, theatre, opera and film critic. In the seventies he went to Paris to study semiotics with A.J. Greimas, and obtained his doctoral degree in philosophy. Besides producing tv and radio programs on culture, he became reputed as a shrewd lecturer on film and arts. Until the late eighties he taught film theory at the university of Nijmegen and was visiting professor in Frankfurt, Liège, Paris, Utrecht and Zürich. He made a number of films – Casta Diva, Naughty Boys, A strange love affair and Pink Ulysses. But it is writing that makes up the base line of his professional life and that spurred a body of works extraordinarily diverse in form and style. His critical work encompasses reviews, essays and articles on dance, theatre, opera and film. It also includes some comprehensive studies on film and semiotics: Filmische hartstochten (1984) and De verbeelding van het mannelijk lichaam (1993). In 1988 he wrote Aan Zee, the first part of a lyrical and many-volumed autobiography, which includes much acclaimed titles such as De hoed van tante Jeannot (1989), Mowgli’s tranen (1990) and Grand Hotel Solitude (1991). De Kuyper also wrote a thriller, a travel book and some collections of essays and columns. In recent years, De Kuyper concentrated on directing theatre and opera, but also returned to critical writing on theatre, dance and film.