Dutch-language literature

This article deals with the forms of literature written in the Dutch language. Just as English literature is not restricted to England alone, Dutch-language authors do not necessarily have to be from the Netherlands, as Dutch literature is or was also produced in other (formerly) Dutch-speaking regions, such as Belgium, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, French Flanders and the former Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia).

In its earliest stages, Dutch literature is defined as those pieces of literary merit written in one of the Dutch dialects. Before the seventeenth century, there was no unified standard language; the dialects that are considered Dutch (as opposed to Low German) are thought to have diverged from Low Franconian around the seventh century.

Earliest stages (800–1550)

Main article: Medieval Dutch literature

For the earliest stages of the Dutch language (and so its literature), the boundaries with what is now considered German are vague, and some fragments and authors are claimed for both realms. Examples include the ninth-century Wachtendonk Psalms, a West Low Franconian translation of some of the Psalms on the threshold of what is considered Dutch, and the twelfth-century poet Henric van Veldeke, who is claimed by both Dutch and German literature. He is known in German as Heinrich von Veldeke.

The Hebban olla vogala fragment.

The earliest literature to be indisputably considered Dutch is a two-line lyric poetry fragment written down by an anonymous tenth-century West Flemish monk to try his pen:

Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan hinase hic

Enda thu wat unbidan we nu
All birds have started nests except me

and you — what are we waiting for?

In the first stages of Dutch literature, poetry was the predominant form of literary expression. In the Low Countries as in the rest of Europe, courtly romance and poetry were popular genres during the Middle Ages. One such Minnesanger was the aforementioned Van Veldeke. The chivalric epic was a popular genre as well, often featuring King Arthur or Charlemagne (Karel ende Elegast, "Charlemagne and Elegast") as protagonist.

As the political and cultural emphasis at the time lay in the southern provinces, most of the works handed down from the early Middle Ages were written in southern dialects such as Limburgish, Flemish and Brabantic. The first Dutch language writer known by name is the twelfth-century County of Loon poet Henric van Veldeke. Van Veldeke wrote courtly love poetry, hagiographies and epics.

A number of the surviving Dutch language epic works, especially the courtly romances, were copies from or expansions of earlier German or French efforts, but there are examples of truly original works (such as the anonymous Karel ende Elegast) or even Dutch-language works that formed the basis for version in other languages (Elckerlijc formed the basis for Everyman). Apart from courtly romance, epics and saints' lives, another genre popular in the Middle Ages was the fable, and the most elaborate fable produced by Dutch literature was an expanded adaptation of the Reynard the Fox tale. The earliest existing fragments of the Reynard the Fox epic were written in Latin by Flemish priests, and about 1250 the first part of a very important version in Dutch, Vanden vos Reynaerde ("Of Reynard the Fox") was made by a person only known to us as Willem.

Up until the thirteenth century, the Middle Dutch language output mainly serviced the aristocratic and monastic orders, recording the traditions of chivalry and of religion, but scarcely addressed the bulk of the population. With the close of the 13th century a change appeaered in Dutch literature. The Flemish and Hollandic towns began to prosper and to assert their commercial supremacy over the North Sea. Under mild rulers such as William II and Floris V, Dordrecht, Amsterdam and other cities won privileges amounting almost to political independence, and with this liberty there arose a new sort of literary expression.

Jacob van Maerlant.

The founder and creator of this original Dutch literature was Jacob van Maerlant. His Der Naturen Bloeme ("The Flower of Nature", c. 1263), a collection of moral and satirical addresses to all classes of society, is a high water mark in Dutch literature. With his Rijmbijbel ("Verse Bible"), Van Maerlant foreshadowed the Reformation. It was not until 1284 that he began his masterpiece, De Spieghel Historiael ("The Mirror of History") at the command of Floris V. Van Maerlant, who was born in Flanders but lived on the Hollandic island of Voorne, straddles the cultural divide between the northern and southern provinces. Up until now, the northern provinces had produced little of worth, and this would largely remain the case until the fall of Antwerp during the Eighty Years War shifted focus to Amsterdam.

The Brussels friar Jan van Ruusbroec (better known in English as the Blessed John of Ruysbroeck, 1293/4–1381), is considered the father of Dutch prose as he was the first to take prose out of the economic and political realms and use it for literary purposes. He wrote sermons filled with mystic thought.

Around 1440, literary guilds called Chambers of Rhetoric arose. These guilds, whose members called themselves Rederijkers or "Rhetoricians", lasted until the end of the 16th century and during the greater part of that time preserved a completely medieval character, even when the influences of the Renaissance and the Reformation modified in some degree their outward forms. They were in almost all cases middle-class in tone, and opposed to aristocratic ideas and tendencies in thought. Of these chambers, the earliest were almost entirely engaged in preparing mysteries and miracle plays for the people. Not in the Low Countries' important places only, but in almost every little town, the rhetoricians exerted their influence, mainly in a social direction. Their wealth was in most cases considerable, and soon no festival or procession could take place in a town unless the Chamber patronized it. The dramatic pieces produced by the chambers were didactic in nature with a strong farcical flavour, and continued the tradition of Maerlant and his school. They very rarely dealt with historical or even Biblical personages, but entirely with allegorical and moral abstractions. The most notable examples of Rederijker theatre include Mariken van Nieumeghen ("Mary of Nijmegen") and Elckerlijc (which was translated into English as Everyman).

Modern Dutch literature begins with Anna Bijns (c. 1494–1575). Bijns, believed to have been born at Antwerp in 1494, was a schoolmistress in her middle life. From her work we know that she was a lay nun and that she occupied a position of honour and influence at Antwerp. Bijns' main targets were the faith and character of Luther. In her first volume of poetry (1528) the Lutherans are scarcely mentioned and focus lies on her personal experience of faith, but in that of 1538 every page is occupied with invectives against them. With the writings of Bijns, the period of Middle Dutch closes and the modern Dutch begins.

Renaissance and the Golden Age (1550–1670)

Main article: Dutch Renaissance and Golden Age literature

The first ripples of the Reformation appeared in Dutch literature in a collection of Psalm translations printed at Antwerp in 1540 under the title of Souter-Liedekens ("Psalter Songs"). For the Protestant congregations, Jan Utenhove printed a volume of Psalms in 1566 and made the first attempt at a New Testament translation in Dutch. Very different in tone were the battle songs sung by the Reformers, the Gueux songs. The famous songbook of 1588, Een Geusen Lied Boecxken ("A Gueux Songbook"), was full of heroic sentiment.

Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde (1538–1598) was one of the leading spirits in the war of Dutch independence and an intimate friend of William I, Prince of Orange. The lyrics to Wilhelmus, the current Dutch national anthem and an apology of the Prince's actions composed around 1568, are ascribed to Marnix. His chief work was 1569's Biëncorf der Heilige Roomsche Kercke, a satire of the Roman Catholic church. Marnix occupied the last years of his life in preparing a Dutch version of the Bible, translated directly from the original; at his death only Genesis was completed. In 1619 the Synod of Dordrecht placed the unfinished work in the hands of four theologians, who completed it. This translation formed the starting point for the Statenvertaling or "States' Translation", a full Bible translation into Dutch ordered by the Synod. In order to be intelleglible to all Dutchmen, the Statenvertaling included elements of all main Dutch dialects and so became the cornerstone of modern standard Dutch.

Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522–1590) was the Low Countries' first truly humanist writer. In 1586 he produced his original masterpiece, the Zedekunst ("Art of Ethics", 1586), a philosophical treatise in prose. His humanism unites the Bible, Plutarch and Marcus Aurelius in one grand system of ethics.

By this time, the religious and political upheaval in the Low Countries had resulted in 1581's Declaration of Independence from Spain and the subsequent eighty years' struggle to confirm that declaration. As a result, the southern provinces, some of which had supported the declaration, were separated from the northern provinces as they remained under Spanish rule. Ultimately, this would result in the present-day states of Belgium (south) and The Netherlands (north). After Antwerp fell into Spanish hands in 1585, Amsterdam became the centre of all literary enterprise as all intelligentsia fled towards the north. This meant both a cultural renaissance in the north and a sharp decline in the south at the same time, regarding the level of Dutch literature practised. The north received a cultural and intellectual boost whereas in the south, Dutch was largely replaced by French as the language of culture and administration.

P.C. Hooft.

In Amsterdam, a circle of poets and playwrights formed around Maecenas-like figure Roemer Visscher (1547–1620), which would eventually be known as the Muiderkring ("Circle of Muiden") after the residence of its most prominent member, Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, (1581–1647), writer of pastoral and lyric poetry and history. From 1628 to 1642 he wrote his masterpiece, the Nederduytsche Historiën ("History of the Netherlands"). Hooft was a purist in style, modelling himself (in prose) after Tacitus. He is considered one of the greatest historians, not merely of the Low Countries, but of Europe. His influence in standardising the language of his country is considered enormous, as many writers conformed themselves to the stylistic and grammatical model Hooft devised. Other members of his Circle included Visscher's daughter Tesselschade (1594–1649, lyric poetry) and Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero (1585–1618, romantic plays and comedies), whose best-known piece is De Spaansche Brabanber Jerolimo ("Jerolimo, the Spanish Brabanter"), a satire upon the exiles from the south. A versatile poet loosely associated with the Circle of Muiden was the diplomat Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687), perhaps best known for his witty epigrams. Huygens' style was bright and vivacious and he was a consummate artist in metrical form.

Joost van den Vondel.

The best-known of all Dutch writers is playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679), who mainly wrote historical and biblical tragedies. In 1625 he published what seemed an innocent study from the antique, his tragedy of Palamedes, or Murdered Innocence, but which was a thinly-veiled tribute to Johan van Oldebarnevelt, the Republic's Grand Pensionary, who had been executed in 1618 by order of stadtholder Maurice of Nassau. Vondel became in a week the most famous writer in Holland and for the next twelve years, until the accession of stadtholder Frederick Henry, had to maintain a hand-to-hand combat with the Calvinists of Dordrecht. In 1637 Vondel wrote of his most popular works on the occasion of the opening of a new Amsterdam theatre: Gijsbreght van Aemstel, a play on a local historical figure loosely modeled on material from the Aeneid that is still staged to this day. In 1654 Vondel brought out what most consider the best of all his works, the tragedy of Lucifer, from which it is said Milton drew inspiration. Vondel is considered the typical example of Dutch intelligence and imagination at their highest development.

A similar school to that in Amsterdam arose in Middelburg, the capital of Zeeland, led by Jacob Cats (1577–1660). In Cats the genuine Dutch habit of thought, the utilitarian and didactic spirit reached its zenith of fluency and popularity. During early middle life he produced the most important of his writings, his didactic poems, the Maechdenplicht ("Duty of Maidens") and the Sinne- en Minnebeelden ("Images of Allegory and Love"). In 1624 he moved from Middelburg to Dordrecht, where he soon after published his ethical work called Houwelick ("Marriage"); and this was followed by a entire series of moral pieces. Cats is considered somewhat dull and prosaic by some, yet his popularity with the middle classes in Holland has always been immense.

As with contemporary English literature, the predominant forms of literature produced in this era were poetry and drama, Coornhert (philosophy) and Hooft (history) being the main exceptions. In another prose genre, Johan van Heemskerk (1597–1656) was the leading man of a new vogue blown over from France: the romance. In 1637 he produced his Batavische Arcadia ("Batavian Arcadia"), the first original Dutch romance, in its day extremely popular and widely imitated. Another exponent of this genre was Nikolaes Heinsius the Younger, whose Mirandor (1675) resembles but precedes Lesage's Gil Blas.

The period from 1600 to 1650 was the blossoming time in Dutch literature. During this period the names of greatest genius were first made known to the public and the vigour and grace of literary expression reached their highest development. It happened, however, that three men of particularly commanding talent survived to an extreme old age, and under the shadow of Vondel, Cats and Huygens sprang up a new generation which sustained the great tradition until around 1670, when decline set in sharply.

Decline (1670–1795)

File:WolffDeken.png

Betjen Wolff (top) and Aagjen Deken.

Unlike English literature, where the Augustan period and the Age of Enlightenment sustained the high level of the Jacobean age, eighteenth-century Dutch literature mainly saw tame, formalistic, ever-diminishing returns of Golden Age themes and forms. After the great division of the Low Countries into the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands formalised in the Peace of Westphalia (1648), "Dutch literature" almost exclusively meant "Republican literature", as the Dutch language fell into disfavour with the southern rulers. A notable exception was the Dunkirk writer Michiel de Swaen (1654–1707), who wrote comedies, moralities and biblical poetry. During his lifetime, the Spanish lost Dunkirk to the French and so De Swaen is also the first French-Flemish writer of importance.

After Vondel's death, Dutch theatre fell into sharp decline. The playwrights of the day followed the French model of Corneille and others, led by Andries Pels (d. 1681). None of the poets of this age set before himself any more ambitious task than to repeat with skill the effects of his predecessors, with the possible exception of Jan Luyken (1649–1712). In the midst of this dissolution of poetical style, a writer arose who revived an interest in literature. Justus van Effen (1684–1735) was born at Utrecht and was influenced by Huguenot émigrés who had fled for the Republic after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Van Effen wrote in French for a great part of his literary career but, influenced by a visit to London where the Tatler and Spectator were on the rise, from 1731 began to publish his Hollandsche Spectator ("Dutch Spectator") magazine, which his death in 1735 soon brought to a close. Still, what he composed during the last four years of his life is considered by many to constitute the most valuable legacy to Dutch literature that the middle of the 18th century left behind.

The year 1777 is considered a turning point in the history of letters in the Netherlands. It was in that year that Elizabeth “Betjen” Wolff (1738–1804), a widow lady in Amsterdam, persuaded her friend Agatha “Aagjen” Deken (1741–1804), a poor but intelligent governess, to throw up her situation and live with her. For nearly thirty years these women continued together, writing in combination. In 1782 the ladies, inspired partly by Goethe, published their first novel, Sara Burgerhart, which was enthusiastically received. Two further, less successful novels appeared before Wolff and Deken had to flee France, their country of residence due to persecution by the Directory.

The last years of the 18th century, which had seen decline in the Republic on all fields, including the arts and international politics, mainly caused by weak in-fighting government, were marked by a general revival of intellectual force. The romantic movement in Germany made itself deeply felt in all branches of Dutch literature and German lyricism took the place hitherto held by French classicism, in spite of the country falling to French expansionalism (see also History of the Netherlands).

The Nineteenth Century

Main article: Nineteenth-century Dutch literature

Against this backdrop, the most prominent writer was Willem Bilderdijk (1756–1831), a highly intellectual and intelligent but also eccentric man who lived a busy, eventful life, writing great quantities of verse. Bilderdijk had no time for the emerging new romantic style of poetry, but its fervour found its way into the Netherlands nevertheless, first of all in the person of Hiëronymus van Alphen (1746–1803), who today is best remembered for the verses he wrote for children. Van Alphen was an exponent of the more sentimental school along with Rhijnvis Feith (1753–1824), whose romances are steeped in Weltschmerz.

In Hendrik Tollens (1780–1856) some the power of Bilderdijk and the sweetness of Feith were combined. Tollens wrote nationalistic romances and lyrics celebrating the great deeds of Dutch historyand today is best known for his poem "Wien Neêrlands Bloed" ("Whom Dutch Blood Flows Through the Veins"), which was the Dutch national anthem until it was superseded by Marnix' "Wilhelmus". A poet of considerable talent, whose powers were awakened by personal intercourse with Tollens and his followers, was A.C.W. Staring (1767–1840). His poems are a blend of romanticism and rationalism.

During this period, the Low Countries had gone through major political upheaval. The Spanish Netherlands had first become the Austrian Netherlands before being annexed by France in 1794. The Republic saw a revolution inspired and backed by France that led to the Batavian Republic and Kingdom of Holland vassal states before actual French annexation in 1810. After Napoleon's downfall in the Southern Netherlands village of Waterloo, the northern and southern provinces were briefly united as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. This period lasted until 1830 only, when the southern provinces seceded to form Belgium. It had little influence in literature, and in the new state of Belgium, the status of the Dutch language remained largely unchanged as all governmental and educational affairs were conducted in French.

The Dutch language of the north resisted the pressure of German from the outside and from within broke through its long stagnation and enriched itself, as a medium for literary expression, with a multitude of fresh and colloquial forms. At the same time, no very great genius arose in The Netherlands in any branch of literature. For the thirty or forty years preceding 1880 the course of literature in Holland was smooth and even sluggish. The Dutch writers had slipped into a conventionality of treatment and a strict limitation of form from which even the most striking talents among them could scarcely escape.

Poetry and a large part of prose was dominated by the so-called school of ministers, as the leading writers all were or had been Calvinist ministers. As a result, many of their products emphasized Biblical and bourgeois domestic values. A prime example is Nicolaas Beets (1814–1903), who wrote large quantities of sermons and poetry under his own name but is chiefly remembered today for the humorous prose sketches of Dutch life in Camera Obscura (1839), which he wrote during his student days under the pseudonym of Hildebrand.

A poet of power and promise was lost in the early death of P.A. de Genestet (1829–1861). His narrative poem "De Sint-Nicolaasavond" ("Eve of Saint Nicholas") appeared in 1849 and sparked a revival in the Dutch traditional celebration of Sinterklaas. Although he left no large contemporary impression, Piet Paaltjens (ps. of François Haverschmidt, 1835–1894) is considered one of the very few readable nineteenth-century poets, representing in Dutch the pure Romantic vein exemplified by Heine.

E. Douwes Dekker (Multatuli).

Under the influence of romantic nationalism, writers in Belgium began to reconsider their Flemish heritage and move for a recognition of the Dutch language. Charles De Coster laid the foundations for a native Belgian literature by recounting the Flemish past in historic romances but wrote his works in French. Hendrik Conscience (1812–1883) was the first to write about Flemish subjects in the Dutch language and so is considered the father of modern Flemish literature. In Flemish poetry, Guido Gezelle (1830–1899) is an important figure. An ordained journalist-cum-ethnologist, Gezelle celebrated his faith and his Flemish roots using an archaic vocabulary based on Medieval Flemish, somewhat to the detriment of readability.

After the restoration in 1815 to the Dutch state of the Dutch East Indies, works of literature continued to be produced there. With the rise of social consciousness regarding the administration of the colonies and the treatment of their inhabitants, an influential voice rose from the Indies in the form of Multatuli (ps. of Eduard Douwes Dekker, 1820–1887), whose Max Havelaar (1860) is a scathing indictment of colonial mismanagement and one of the few nineteenth-century prose works still widely considered readable today.

The principles of the 1830–1880 period were summed up in Conrad Busken-Huet (1826–1886), leading critic of the day; he had been during all those years the fearless and trusty watch-dog of Dutch letters as he understood them. He lived just long enough to become aware that a revolution was approaching, not to comprehend its character; but his accomplished fidelity to literary principle and his wide knowledge have been honoured even by the most bitter of the younger school.

In November 1881 Jacques Perk (born 1860) died. He was no sooner dead, however, than his posthumous poems, and in particular a cycle of sonnets called Mathilde, were published (1882) and awakened extraordinary emotion. Perk had rejected all the formulas of rhetorical poetry, and had broken up the conventional rhythms. There had been heard no music like his in Holland for two hundred years. A group of young men collected around his name and were joined by the poet-novelist-dramatist Marcellus Emants (1848–1923). Emants had written a symbolical poem called "Lilith" in 1879 that had been stigmatised as audacious and meaningless; encouraged by the admiration of his juniors, Emants published in 1881 a treatise in which the first open attack was made on the old school.

Louis Couperus.

The next appearance was that of Willem Kloos (1857–1938), who had been the editor and intimate friend of Perk, and who now led the new movement. His violent attacks on recognized authority in aesthetics created a considerable scandal. For some time the new poets and critics found a great difficulty in being heard, but in 1884 they founded a review, De Nieuwe Gids ("The New Guide"), which was able to offer a direct challenge to the old guard's periodicals. The new movement was called Tachtigers or "Movement of (Eighteen-)Eighty", after the decade in which it arose. The Tachtigers insisted that style must match content, and that intimate and visceral emotions can only be expressed using an intimate and visceral writing style. Prime influences of the Tachtigers were U.K. poets such as Shelley and the French naturalists.

Around the same time, Louis Couperus (1863–1923) made his appearance. His boyhood years were spent in Java, and he had preserved in all his nature a certain tropical magnificence. His first literary efforts were lyrics in the Tachtigers style, but Couperus proved far more important and durable as a novelist. In 1891 he published Noodlot, which was translated into English as "Footsteps of Fate" and which was greatly admired by Oscar Wilde, whose Picture of Dorian Grey it is said to have influenced. Couperus continued to pour out one important novel after another until his death in 1923. Another talent for prose was revealed by Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932) in De kleine Johannes ("Little Johnny", 1887) and in Van de koele meren des doods ("From the Cold Pools of Death", 1901, a melancholy novel.

After 1887 the condition of modern Dutch literature remained comparatively stationary, and within the last decade of the 19th century was definitely declining. In 1889 a new poet, Herman Gorter (1864–1927) made his appearance with an epic poem called Mei ("May"), eccentric both in prosody and in treatment. He held his own without any marked advance towards lucidity or variety. Since the recognition of Gorter, however, no really remarkable talent made itself prominent in Dutch poetry except P.C. Boutens (1870–1943), whose Verzen ("Verses") in 1898 were received with great respect. Kloos collected his poems in 1894. The others, with the exception of Couperus, showed symptoms of sinking into silence. The entire school, now that the struggle for recognition was over, rested on its triumphs and soon limited itself to a repetition of its old experiments.

The leading dramatist at the close of the century was Herman Heijermans (1864–1924), a writer of strong realistic and socialistic tendencies who single-handedly brought Dutch theatre into the modern time. His fishermen's tragedy Op hoop van zegen ("Trusting Our Fate in the Hands of God"), which is still staged, remains his most popular play.

The Twentieth Century

Interbellum and the Second World War (1920–1945)

• Marsman
• Roland Holst
• J.J. Slauerhoff
• Hendrik de Vries
• Vestdijk
• Ter Braak
• Du Perron
• Jan Campert
• Paul Van Ostaijen
• Jac. van Looy
• Nescio
• Willem Elsschot

Modern Times (1945–present)

Vijftigers, Hans Lodeizen, Lucebert, Jules Deelder, J.Bernlef, Remco Campert, Hella Haasse, M. Vasalis, Leo Vroman, Hugo Claus, Harry Mulisch, Willem Frederik Hermans, Gerard Reve, Jan Wolkers, Rudy Kousbroek, Cees Nooteboom, Maarten 't Hart, A.F.Th van der Heijden, Rutger Kopland, Gerrit Krol, Gerrit Komrij, Connie Palmen, Tom Lanoye

See also

• List of Dutch writers

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)