Research shows that teachers and education are often represented negatively or stereotypically in popular and literary culture, both in the Dutch language area and in Anglophone contexts. Regarding... Show moreResearch shows that teachers and education are often represented negatively or stereotypically in popular and literary culture, both in the Dutch language area and in Anglophone contexts. Regarding contemporary Dutch literature, though, research on educational representations has until now focussed on small corpora of novels that explicitly deal with education. In this article, we explore the representations of teachers and education in a much larger and broader corpus: the 170 submissions to the bulk list of the prestigious Dutch Libris Literatuurprijs of 2013. We provide a Keyword in Context Analysis of 292 educational representations in this corpus and offer a demographic analysis of the 71 teachers who inhabit the novels under analysis. In doing so, we show that educational representations and teacher characters are relatively common in contemporary Dutch language novels. Our analysis also reveals that literary representations of teachers are predominantly negative in nature, especially regarding their behaviour towards students, their external presentation, and their pedagogical skills. Representations of education in general tend to be even more negative. In that sense, literary representations of education appear to converge with the negative public appeal of the educational sector in the contemporary Low Countries. Show less
With the Fall – or reconquista if you will – of Antwerp in 1585, the Revolt in Low Countries entered a period of stalemate that would eventually materialise into the separation of north and south.... Show moreWith the Fall – or reconquista if you will – of Antwerp in 1585, the Revolt in Low Countries entered a period of stalemate that would eventually materialise into the separation of north and south. This article looks at a poetry manuscript by the Mechelen rhetorician Willem de Gortter, an avid sympathiser of the northern cause, who spent his entire life in the Catholic and Spanish south. Through his references to the multiple nationalities involved in a conflict that in essence gripped Europe for the better part of a century, this article aims to position his discourse on the shared past in the division of two separate ‘memory cultures’ that are believed to have developed from the late sixteenth century onwards. It shows that despite his fierce disapproval of the Spanish actions during the Eighty Years War, and despite his agreement with the northern propagandistic discourse on the recent past, he did incorporate some of the less strident views that circulated in the south. Show less
Voor ’t gewone leven ongeschikt. A biography of Clare Lennart, is a literary and historical biography of author Clare Lennart (Clara Helena van den Boogaard-Klaver, 1889-1972). Her work contains... Show moreVoor ’t gewone leven ongeschikt. A biography of Clare Lennart, is a literary and historical biography of author Clare Lennart (Clara Helena van den Boogaard-Klaver, 1889-1972). Her work contains many recognisably autobiographical elements, especially from her youth. An extensive overview of the life of this 'forgotten author' is the basis for this critical and interpretive biography. In addition it shows Clare Lennart's unique position in her time, the unusual choices she made and ‘the roads not taken’ in her life. The main focus of the research is the question of how Clare Lennart gained an economic position as a woman of letter. A second question focuses on the concepts of posture and self-fashioning. The thesis demonstrates that Clare Lennart was aware of her image as a 'poetic nature lover' and that she openly presented herself as a hack writer. Clare Lennart's poetic style nowadays seems more dated than the sober language used by contemporary authors. Nevertheless, she had a large audience between 1945 and 1972 and the reception was nearly always positive. The biography discusses the contemporary reception of her work in detail and why Clare Lennart's work is omitted from the Dutch canon, using the concept of ‘middle-brow’ literature. Show less
Top Naeff (1878-1953) is in Nederland beroemd om haar meisjesboek School-Idyllen. Verder schreef ze romans en novellen. Minder bekend is dat ze een toonaangevend toneelcritica was.Dit proefschrift... Show moreTop Naeff (1878-1953) is in Nederland beroemd om haar meisjesboek School-Idyllen. Verder schreef ze romans en novellen. Minder bekend is dat ze een toonaangevend toneelcritica was.Dit proefschrift geeft niet alleen een beeld van Naeff als schrijfster van meisjesboeken en proza voor volwassenen, maar vooral van een vrouw met een hevige passie voor toneel, die streed voor de belangen van de acteur en regisseur Willem Royaards. De biografie beschrijft ook de geheime liefde van Naeff voor Royaards, en toont aan dat het overgrote deel van Naeffs romans en verhalen de literaire verwerking is van haar dubbelleven, haar frustraties en de uiteindelijke acceptatie van alle tekort. Daarmee biedt deze biografie, zoals een schrijversbiografie dient te doen, een verhelderend inzicht in het oeuvre van Top Naeff.Vrijwel alle vrouwelijke auteurs van het interbellum werden door met name de Forum-generatie denigrerend betiteld als auteurs van ‘damesromans’. De biografie nuanceert dit beeld wat Top Naeff betreft overtuigend; criticus Menno ter Braak had respect voor Naeff en haar werk en bewonderde naar ‘superieure ironie’.Deze biografie biedt veel nieuwe feiten en inzichten, een analytisch beeld van Naeff als toneelcritica, een positiebepaling in haar tijd, een verband tussen leven en werk en een nuancering waar het de beeldvorming in literaire handboeken en encyclopedieën betreft. Show less
