Andreas Burnier, born Catharina Irma Dessaur (3 July 1931 – 18 September 2002) was a Dutch writer. Burnier has published poetry, lectures, books and articles, many of which address homosexuality, in order to emphasize women's problems in a male-dominated society.
Literary debut
Burnier debuted in the literary magazine Tirade with her story Verschrikkingen van het Noorden. Along with assuming a new name as a writer, Burnier also assumed the opposite gender. In 1965, she published her first novel, Een tevreden lach (the title of which translates as something like "A Contented Laugh"). In it she wrote about her homosexuality, a topic that had previously not been widely discussed in Dutch literature. She did not mean to publish this novel at first as she wrote it for herself due to the need of reflection, and she deemed it unfit for publication, but after coming into contact with a manager who worked at Querido, who wanted to read it, it became published. Een tevreden lach was well received by critics who praised its original structural elements. The book is considered to be one of the first novels of second-wave feminism as it was about a young woman that lives her own life despite social oppression. She followed this work with a collection of short stories entitled De verschrikkingen van het noorden (1967) and a novel, Het jongensuur (1969), supplementing this work with a series of poetry, book reviews and articles.
In her autobiographical novel Jongensuur (Boys' hour, 1969) Burnier describes the wartime experience of a young Jewish girl in hiding in the Netherlands, and her desire to be a boy.
Topics of her novels
Notable topics Burnier writes about are powerlessness, frustration and anger which she experienced by the masculine-oriented society. This caused her to write and think about herself and if she was a man trapped in a woman's body. The main topic of Het jongensuur is a young girl who wonders if she is not a boy.
A lot of Burnier's novels are autobiographical like her debut novel Een tevreden lach. Her protagonist struggles with her identity as a developing young woman. De wereld is van glas also contains autobiographical fragments. The main character is looking for a person who can help her reconcile with all the different characters she experiences. She finds this reconciliation in Judaism.
After Burnier's father died she reconciled with Judaism and her books were more oriented on this religion. Het jongensuur is the only book from her earlier work which features a Jewish protagonist.
Feminism and activism
Burnier was also a pioneer during the second feminist wave, often writing about the inborn misfortune of having a female body. Many of her works are intended to encourage women to take their place in society and fight for their rights. She thought that it was a privilege to be born as part of a suppressed minority, and in an interview with W.M. Roggeman in 1977 she stated: "To suffer is good for mankind", because it kept her sharp and motivated to change a woman's status in society. Burnier saw feminism as a positive force for remaking civilization. She was an outspoken defender of gay rights and was opposed to abortion and euthanasia. In her argumentation of why she was opposed to abortion, euthanasia and genetic manipulation, she referred to the eugenetics of the Nazi-ideology.
Personal life
Burnier was born Catharina Irma Dessaur in The Hague, The Netherlands to Jewish parents Salomon Dessaur and Rosa Louisa Jacobs. Like many other Jewish children in Europe, she went into hiding during World War II, and was separated from her parents for three years (1942–1945), hiding in sixteen different locations under the alias Ronnie van Dijk. During her time in hiding, Burnier became aware of the lack of rights that women experience in a male-dominated society and began to feel like she was a boy trapped in a girl's body.
After the war, in 1949, Andreas Burnier got her Gymnasium-alpha diploma. She then started to study medicine for one and a half-year at the University of Amsterdam. In her opinion, medicine was fairly superficial and not scientifically interesting, which is why she started to study philosophy. Her university professor did not take her seriously, because she was a young woman. She never finished this as she was twenty-two years old when she decided to quit this study in philosophy.