We're going to throw Dad out: Lesson letter

Dorna is a Dutch writer from the turbulent 1930s. In literature we associate this period with social criticism, for example with the writer Menno ter Braak, also known as a politician without a party. In contrast, there was a modernist poet such as Martinus Nijhoff, who was mainly concerned with finding form in his poetry for the mystery of everyday existence. Mary Dorna sails between those two positions without a care in the world. As a writer she is perhaps closest to the ironic and anti-bourgeois Nescio. But where he wrote about nice boys, Dorna features rebellious girls and young women.

Her characters are authentic, colorful and unconventional. They are bored with the decent life, they question the established order and lead a cheerful, bohemian existence. They have this attitude to life in common with their creator.

"Mary Dorna's stories are a plea for a life outside the lines," says Sanneke van Hassel, Fixdit author and ambassador of the short story. For Fixdit, this is one of the reasons to bring Mary Dorna to the attention of young readers, and to include her special life story and the genre of the short story in education.

Of course, the teacher can adjust the information for other levels at his or her own discretion.

The Salamander classic Let's throw father out , published in 2021 by Nijgh and van Ditmar, was used for this lesson.

You can also find the collection online for reading a single story as a class or for assigning homework. All stories that the student must read for the assignments can also be downloaded here.