Literature of the Netherlands

Dutch language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and of formerly Dutch-speaking regions, such as French Flanders, South Africa, and Indonesia. The Dutch East Indies, as Indonesia was called under Dutch colonization, spawned a separate subsection in Dutch-language literature. Conversely, Dutch-language literature sometimes was and is produced by people originally from abroad who came to live in Dutch-speaking regions, such as Anne Frank and Kader Abdolah. In its earliest stages, Dutch-language literature is defined as those pieces of literary merit written in one of the Dutch dialects of the Low Countries. Before the 17th century, there was no unified standard language; the dialects that are considered Dutch evolved from Old Frankish. A separate Afrikaans literature started to emerge during the 19th century, and it shares the same literary roots as contemporary Dutch, as Afrikaans evolved from 17th-century Dutch. The term Dutch literature may either indicate in a narrow sense literature from the Netherlands, or alternatively Dutch-language literature (as it is understood in this article).

Until the end of the 11th century, Dutch literature, like literature elsewhere in Europe, was almost entirely oral and in the form of poetry. In the 12th and 13th century, writers starting writing chivalric romances and hagiographies for noblemen. From the 13th century, literature became more didactic and developed a proto-national character, as it was written for the bourgeoisie. With the close of the 13th century a change appeared in Dutch literature. The Flemish and Hollandic towns began to prosper and a new sort of literary expression began. Around 1440, literary guilds called ''rederijkerskamers'' (" Chambers of Rhetoric") arose which were usually middle-class in tone. Of these chambers, the earliest were almost entirely engaged in preparing mysteries and miracle plays for the people. Anna Bijns (c. 1494–1575) is an important figure who wrote in modern Dutch. The Reformation appeared in Dutch literature in a collection of Psalm translations in 1540 and in a 1566 New Testament translation in Dutch. The best-known of all Dutch writers is the Catholic playwright and poet Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679).

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Low Countries had gone through major political upheaval. The most prominent writers were Willem Bilderdijk (1756–1831), Hiëronymus van Alphen (1746–1803), and Rhijnvis Feith (1753–1824). Piet Paaltjens ( ps. of François Haverschmidt, 1835–1894) represents in Dutch the Romantic vein exemplified by Heine. A new movement called ''Tachtigers'' or "Movement of (Eighteen-)Eighty", after the decade in which it arose. One of the most important historical writers of the 20th century was Johan Huizinga, who is known abroad and translated in different languages and included in several great books lists. During the 1920s, a new group of writers who distanced themselves from the ornate style of the Movement of 1880 arose, led by Nescio (J.H.F. Grönloh, 1882–1961). During WW II, influential writers included Anne Frank (whose diary was published posthumously) died in a German concentration camp, as did crime fiction writer, journalist and poet Jan Campert. Writers who had lived through the atrocities of the Second World War reflected in their works on the changed perception of reality. Obviously many looked back on their experiences the way Anne Frank had done in her Diary, this was the case with ''Het bittere kruid'' (The bitter herb) of Marga Minco, and ''Kinderjaren'' (Childhood) of Jona Oberski. The renewal, which in literary history would be described as "ontluisterend realisme" (shocking realism), is mainly associated with three authors: Gerard Reve, W.F. Hermans and Anna Blaman. Reve and Hermans are often cited together with Harry Mulisch as the "Big Three" of Dutch postwar literature.

Old Dutch texts (500–1150)

Around 500 AD, Old Frankish evolved to Old Dutch, a West Germanic language that was spoken by the Franks and to a lesser extent by people living in the regions conquered by the Franks. Until the end of the 11th century, Dutch literature - like literature elsewhere in Europe - was almost entirely oral and in the form of poetry, as this helped troubadours remembering and reciting their texts. Scientific and religious texts were written in Latin and as a consequence most texts written in the Netherlands were written in Latin rather than Old Dutch. Extant Dutch texts from this period are rare.

In the earliest stages of the Dutch language, a considerable degree of mutual intelligibility with most other West Germanic dialects was present, and some fragments and authors can be claimed by both Dutch and German literature. Examples include the 10th-century '' Wachtendonck Psalms'', a West Low Franconian translation of some of the Psalms on the threshold of what is considered Dutch, and the 12th-century County of Loon poet Henric van Veldeke (1150 – after 1184).

The Leiden Willeram

The '' Leiden Willeram'' is the name given to a manuscript containing a Low Franconian version of the Old High German commentary on Song of Solomon by the German abbot Williram of Ebersberg (ultimately by Isidore of Seville). Until recently, based on its orthography and phonology the text of this manuscript was believed by most scholars to be Middle Franconian, that is Old High German, with some Limburgic or otherwise Franconian admixtures. But in 1974, the German philologist Willy Sanders proved in his study ''Der Leidener Willeram'' that the text actually represents an imperfect attempt by a scribe from the northwestern coastal area of the Low Countries to translate the East Franconian original into his local vernacular. The text contains many Old Dutch words not known in Old High German, as well as mistranslated words caused by the scribe's unfamiliarity with some Old High German words in the original he translated, and a confused orthography heavily influenced by the Old High German original. For instance, the grapheme is used after the High German tradition where it represents Germanic ''t'' shifted to . Sanders also proved that the manuscript, now in the University Library of Leiden University, was written at the end of the 11th century in the Abbey of Egmond in modern North Holland, whence the manuscript's other name ''Egmond Willeram''.

Hebban olla vogala

The oldest known poetry was written by a West-Flemish monk in a convent in Rochester, England around 1100: '' hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan hinase hic enda thu wat unbidan we nu'' ("All birds have started making nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for"). According to professor Luc de Grauwe the text could equally well be Old English, more specifically Old Kentish, though there is no consensus on this hypothesis. At that time, Old (West) Dutch and Old English were very similar.

The Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible

Another important source for Old Dutch is the so-called Rhinelandic Rhyming Bible (Dutch: ''Rijnlandse Rijmbijbel'' and German: ''Rheinische Reimbibel''). This is a verse translation of biblical histories, attested only in a series of fragments, which was composed in a mixed dialect containing Low German, Old Dutch and High German (Rhine-Franconian) elements. It was likely composed in north-west Germany in the early 12th century, possibly in Werden Abbey, near Essen.

Middle Dutch literature (1150–1500)

In the 12th and 13th century, writers starting writing chivalric romances and hagiographies (i.e. stories about the lives of saints) for paying noblemen. From the 13th century, literature became more didactic and developed a proto-national character. The primary audience was no longer the nobility, but the bourgeoisie. The growing importance of the Southern Low Countries resulted in most works being written in Brabant, Flanders and Limburg.

In the first stages of Dutch literature, poetry was the predominant form of literary expression. It was both in the Low Countries and the rest of Europe that courtly romance and poetry were popular literary genres during the Middle Ages. One ''Minnesanger'' was the aforementioned Van Veldeke, the first Dutch-language writer known by name, who also wrote epic poetry and hagiographies. The chivalric romance was a popular genre as well, often featuring King Arthur or Charlemagne 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 Low Franconian dialects such as Limburgish, Flemish and Brabantic. The first Dutch language writer known by name is Van Veldeke, who wrote courtly love poetry, and epics.

Beatrice of Nazareth (1200–1268) was the first known prose writer in the Dutch language, the author of the ''Seven Ways of Holy Love''. The Brussels friar Jan van Ruusbroec (better known in English as the Blessed John of Ruysbroeck, 1293/4–1381) followed Beatrice in taking prose out of the economic and political realms and using it for literary purposes. He wrote sermons filled with mystic thought.

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'') and even Dutch-language works that formed the basis for version in other languages (such as the morality play ''Elckerlijc'' that formed the basis for '' Everyman (play)''). 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, ''Vanden vos Reynaerde'' ("Of Reynard the Fox"), written around 1250 by a person only identified as Willem.

Until the 13th 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 appeared in Dutch literature. The Flemish and Hollandic towns began to prosper and to assert their commercial supremacy over the North Sea, and these cities won privileges amounting almost to political independence. With this liberty there arose a new sort of literary expression.

The most important exponent of this new development was Jacob van Maerlant (~1235–~1300), a Flemish scholar who worked in Holland for part of his career. His key works are ''Der Naturen Bloeme'' ("The Flower of Nature", c. 1263), a collection of moral and satirical addresses to all classes of society, and ''De Spieghel Historiael'' ("The Mirror of History", c. 1284). Van Maerlant 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. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of Dutch poetry", "a title he merits for productivity if for no other reason."

Around 1440, literary guilds called ''rederijkerskamers'' (" Chambers of Rhetoric") arose. These guilds, whose members called themselves ''Rederijkers'' or "Rhetoricians", 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. Soon their influence grew until no festival or procession could take place in a town unless the Chamber patronized it. The Chambers' plays very rarely dealt with historical or even Biblical personages, but entirely with allegorical and moral abstractions and were didactic in nature. The most notable examples of Rederijker theatre include ''Mariken van Nieumeghen'' ("Mary of Nijmegen") and ''Elckerlijc'' (which was translated into English as ''Everyman'').

At the close of the early period, Anna Bijns (c. 1494–1575) stands as a transitional figure. Bijns was an Antwerp schoolmistress and lay nun whose 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 one finds sharp words for the Lutherans on every page. With the writings of Bijns, the period of Middle Dutch closes and the modern Dutch begins (see also History of the Dutch language).

Renaissance and the Golden Age (1550–1670)

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 van Nassouwe'', 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'' (Beehive of the Holy Roman Church), 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 Dort 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 intelliglible 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"), a philosophical treatise in prose. Coornhert's 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 the 1581 Act of Abjuration, deposing their king, Philip II of 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 had fallen 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.

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 refugees 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.

The best-known of all Dutch writers is the Catholic 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 the Netherlands 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: '' Gijsbrecht 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 an entire series of moral pieces. Cats is considered somewhat dull and prosaic by some, yet his popularity with the middle classes in the Netherlands 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'' (1695) 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.

1670–1795

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 (1678) the Spanish lost Dunkirk to the French and so De Swaen is also the first French-Flemish writer of importance.

The playwrights of the time followed the French model of Corneille and others, led by Andries Pels (d. 1681). A well-known poet of this period was Jan Luyken

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