The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty (), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked together in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

from the 1880s. Many of them are still widely read today. The Tachtigers were so named simply because they became active around the year 1880. The movement was based on revolt against what the Tachtigers perceived as the formalistic and overly wrought style of mainstream literature in their day, particularly as favored by the predominant literary journal in Amsterdam, ''

De Gids (from Dutch: ''The Guide'') is the oldest Dutch literary periodical still published today. It was founded in 1837 by Everhardus Johannes Potgieter and Christianus Robidé van der Aa. Long regarded as the most prestigious literary periodical ...

'' (''The Guide''). The Tachtigers instead insisted that style must match content, and that intimate and visceral emotions can only be expressed using an intimate and visceral writing style. For guidance in this effort, they tended to draw inspiration from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and from the then recent

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painters and

Naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

writers. After ''De Gids'' continued to reject most of their submissions, the Tachtigers founded their own competing literary journal, mockingly called ''

De Nieuwe Gids (from Dutch: ''The New Guide'') was a Dutch illustrated literary periodical which was published from 1885 to 1943. It played an important role in promoting the literary movement of the 1880s. Its contents covered a wide range of topics, extend ...

'' (''The New Guide''), first published in October 1885. Two of the founding editors and frequent contributors were the poet and critic

Willem Kloos Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of '' De Nieuwe Gids'' after the e ...

and the poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and psychiatrist

Frederik van Eeden Frederik Willem van Eeden (3 April 1860, Haarlem – 16 June 1932, Bussum) was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century Dutch writer and psychiatrist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers and the Significs Group, and had top billing amo ...

, both of whom are widely regarded today as canonical greats of Dutch literature. The other three founding editors were F. van der Goes, Willem Paap, and Albert Verwey. Other prominent Tachtigers whose works appeared in ''De Nieuwe Gids'' include the literary critic

Lodewijk van Deyssel Lodewijk van Deyssel was the pseudonym of Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm (22 September 1864, Amsterdam – 26 January 1952), a Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch peop ...

and the poet

Herman Gorter Herman Gorter (; 26 November 1864 – 15 September 1927) was a Dutch poet and council communist theoretician. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in Amsterdam in the 1880 ...

, author of the epic poem '' Mei'', who is probably the most widely read Tachtiger. He went on to become a founding member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

and was a prominent theoretician of the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and

council communist Council communism or councilism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Co ...

movements. Another prominent novelist,

Louis Couperus Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological fiction, psychological and historical fiction, historical novels, novellas, short ...

, published his first novel in 1889 and was deeply influenced by the Tachtigers. He is often counted as a Tachtiger, although he was outside the Amsterdam social circle of the true Tachtigers.

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* * * * * {{Lit-mov-stub Dutch literature 19th-century literature