Belcampo

Belcampo was the pseudonym of Dutch writer and physician Herman Pieter Schönfeld Wichers. "Belcampo" is the Italian translation of his surname Schönfeld (= beautiful field).

He grew up in Rijssen, studied notary law in Leiden and Amsterdam, and worked briefly at a law firm.

In the thirties he went traveling through Europe and in 1938 he self-published "De Zwerftocht van Belcampo", a collection of stories about his wanderings.

In 1937 he went to study medicine. On April 13, 1949 he received his medical degree, and from 1953-1967 he was a student MD in Groningen.

In 1958 he wrote "Het Grote Gebeuren", the Big Event, a novella set in the village of Rijssen. With some irony, he described Apocalypse as he saw it, in which the inhabitants of Rijssen saw their fears portrayed in armies of devils and angels, coming in on the Day of Judgement to settle the bill. In the Christian stronghold of Rijssen this story was not appreciated.

Jaap Drupsteen made the story into magical-realistic television, broadcast on New Year's Eve 1975, which was a great success.

On January 2, 1990 Schönfeld Wichers died. He was buried beside his father at the old public cemetery in Rijssen.

Belcampo has often been called the "most original Dutch writer". That speaks volumes. He represents, all by himself, thegenre of the Dutch 'fantasy literature'.

He has no predecessors and no successors. He has created no school, no followers and no enemies. Friends and admirers, on the other hand, by the score.