Nederlandse Letterkunde - Volume 26, Issue 2-3, 2021

Abstract In this article, we place the celebrating journal Nederlandse letterkunde in the historical context of the discipline of Dutch language & literature since the 1990s in the Netherlands. Special attention is paid to the school subject of Dutch, and to the teaching of literature within that subject. We show what developments have led to the current cooperation between academics in Dutch language & literature and didact Read More

Abstract This article discusses the history and relevance of ‘Periodiek’, a section of Nederlandse letterkunde in which two editors would briefly present the articles that were published in other journals on Dutch literature. The section ran from 1996 to 2003. First, this section is compared to overviews of recent publications in other journals; then, the nature and content of ‘Periodiek’ is discussed; and the article concludes with Read More

Abstract When the first issue of Nederlandse letterkunde was published, I was in the early stages of my PhD research about Dutch poetry in the 1960s. I wrote about the textual version of the readymade, and the theoretical implications of works of art, and poetry, without inherent value. These works test the limit of what literary history can do – and similar questions were regularly raised in Nederlandse letterkunde: what Read More

Abstract In the first issue of Nederlandse letterkunde, Dieuwke van der Poel analysed Der vrouwen heimelijcheit, a rhymed Middle Dutch text regarding all sorts of ‘women’s affairs’ such as conception, pregnancy and menstruation. She examined the text from a gender perspective and in particular from the different point of view of women as readers. Building on this approach, this article presents a brief overview of the r Read More

Abstract In the first volume of Nederlandse letterkunde, two prominent literary scholars in the field of early modern Dutch literature reflected on their monumental, innovative books, which were both published the year after (1997). Piet Buijnsters, first of all, presents his Bibliografie van Nederlandse school- en kinderboeken 1700-1800 (BNK), an extensive bibliography of all known children’s and school books published in Read More

Abstract This contribution takes the striking near-absence of intercultural and post-/ colonial issues from the first twenty-five editions of the journal Nederlandse letterkunde as the starting-point for a reflection on the monocultural focus and dazzling whiteness of the study of Dutch literature more in general. It starts with an overview of the origination of the debate about diversity within Dutch literature in the 1990’s, after whi Read More

Abstract In this essay, I consider the past quarter century in (Middle) Dutch studies and the effects of digitization on the field’s development. The increased level of digitization has affected the scholarly practice in multiple ways, most of which positive, including the increased usability and accessibility of source materials, primary and secondary literature and instruments for quantitative analysis. Digitization, however, also Read More

Abstract In this contribution the last twenty-five years of research concerning early modern Dutch theatre are discussed. Jan Konst argued that research of early modern Dutch theatre up to the year 2000 can be characterised as belonging to a historic paradigm. In this article it is argued that Dutch theatre research of the past two decades has been changing to include more critical reflections of society. It is maintained th Read More

Abstract The first issue of Nederlandse letterkunde contains two articles in which the famous Middle Dutch manuscript, known as the Lancelot Compilation (The Hague, Royal Library, ms. 129 A 10) is discussed. The articles are very early examples of the research method that has been known as ‘Material Philology’ since the late nineties. Both authors, W.P. Gerritsen and Soetje Oppenhuis de Jong, touch upon the so-calle Read More

Abstract This paper explores how an article by Marita Mathijsen on literary subsidies in the nineteenth century (1996, Nederlandse letterkunde) has served as a prelude to later research on post-romantic private literary patronage in The Netherlands on the one hand, and Dutch government policy on the other. It provides an overview of research carried out by Dutch researchers since 1996 into practices of and discourses on Read More

Abstract In recent decades the study of stereotypes, mostly on a national level, has witnessed a substantial popularity in the field of Dutch Studies. This article sketches the rise of this type of research and its connection to globalization and commercialization. It then reflects on the disadvantages of this kind of research in that it propels the persistence of patterns simply through repetition while its national focus can easily become Read More

Abstract Nowadays, autobiographical literature is omnipresent and takes many shapes. Despite that combining research methods from different lines of autobiography scholarship would be a welcome practice, so far, explicit methodological dialogues have not been a top priority in Dutch literary studies. This article takes the discussion between the two founders of the main research lines in international autobiography stud Read More

Abstract The first issue of the journal Nederlandse letterkunde (1996) opened with an article about the historiography of modern Dutch poetry by Wiljan van den Akker and Gillis Dorleijn. Due to its prominent place in the new journal, it made a programmatic impression. This article aims at answering the following questions: what scientific intentions formed the basis of this article; how were the empirical findings translated i Read More

Abstract The very first article of the very first edition of Nederlandse letterkunde in 1996 was an article on poetry. Wiljan van den Akker and Gillis Dorleijn presented an empirical study in which they counted the number of poems that were published in magazines and the number of poetry books that were published in the Netherlands, between 1901 and 1940, by Dutch language poets who were alive at the time. They claim Read More