In Babylon (1997) by the Dutch author Marcel Möring seems to be highly self-reflexive, just in line with the non-committed way most postmodern novels have been characterized. What tends to be... Show moreIn Babylon (1997) by the Dutch author Marcel Möring seems to be highly self-reflexive, just in line with the non-committed way most postmodern novels have been characterized. What tends to be overlooked in this characterization however is that a very real historic event lies at the basis of the novel’s foundation, namely the Shoah and its aftermath. This event permeates the whole structure of the novel. As argued in this article, this foundation is implied, amongst other things, by the presence of ghosts. Read in conjunction with Van Dijk’s and Whitehead’s analyses of trauma in contemporary novels, and with a focus on haunting and intertextuality, this article demonstrates both the presence of and the struggle of the text with the notion of loss. Show less
Dutch youth have been hard to enthuse for literature and reading in recent years, both in private and educational settings. At the same time, however, they are highly attracted to (primarily Dutch... Show moreDutch youth have been hard to enthuse for literature and reading in recent years, both in private and educational settings. At the same time, however, they are highly attracted to (primarily Dutch-spoken) rap, an originally US-American music genre with literary features. In the US, elements of rap and its accompanying hip-hop culture are fruitfully integrated into literature classes to enthuse youth for reading. The combination of hip-hop’s popularity and its intercultural, literary, and educative potential opens up possibilities for a similar implementation of hip-hop in a Dutch context. However, although many teachers are open to trying this, they often lack the prior knowledge to get started. In this article, I present four preparatory ‘lessons to learn’ to help teachers use hip-hop in the literary classroom. These lessons concern hip-hop’s literary qualities, hip-hop-inspired teaching attitudes, and new perspectives on the challenging language and topics of the genre. Show less
This article explores how Joost van den Vondel’s politically charged play Palamedes (first published in 1625) was read in the seventeenth century. It presents the findings of a systematic and... Show moreThis article explores how Joost van den Vondel’s politically charged play Palamedes (first published in 1625) was read in the seventeenth century. It presents the findings of a systematic and focused census of copies of 25 seventeenth-century editions that have been preserved in public collections. Inspection of 150 copies has resulted in identifying 32 copies with manuscript annotations. Viewed together these annotated copies show the importance of different forms of collective reading. Two general patterns can be distinguished, documenting on the one hand different forms of rhetorical and stylistic analysis, made for didactic or studious use. Another category reveals a persistent interest in decoding, remembering, and sharing the political meaning of the play. This category includes a set of annotations that probably derived from Vondel’s biographer Geeraert Brandt, which circulated in manuscript before appearing in print in 1705. As an exercise in censusresearch, this case also confirms the idea of the long life of the book, documenting extended use and enrichment of individual copies. Show less
