The dissertation is a methodologically driven intervention into the interpretive practices and readings of contemporary Dutch novels. The research departs from the hypothesis that contemporary... Show moreThe dissertation is a methodologically driven intervention into the interpretive practices and readings of contemporary Dutch novels. The research departs from the hypothesis that contemporary Dutch fiction can be read as beyond postmodernism. Its methodology emphasizes both the continuity with postmodernism and the innovative elements of the novels. The focus on periodization otherwise results in the homogenization of literary production in a given period and in placing clearly identified breaks between periods. The project’s analysis of three contemporary novels (Zonder noorden komt niemand thuis by Nelleke Noordervliet, Klont by Maxim Februari a Wij zijn licht by Gerda Blees) focuses on the affective aspects of reading and demonstrates how interpretation is influenced by readerly attitude. The addition of reparative reading to previously explored ideologically critical, paranoid readings is an illustration of one of the three levels at which contemporary novels oscillate. The reparative and oscillating interpretations can be produced by means of relational frame that is introduced as a transferable tool summarizing the insights of the dissertation. Show less
Modernism is the belief in a world that can be understood in objectiveterms and controlled as such. Even though it is commonly understoodto be a naïve worldview, public administration theorists... Show moreModernism is the belief in a world that can be understood in objectiveterms and controlled as such. Even though it is commonly understoodto be a naïve worldview, public administration theorists believe it to still aptly describe the modus operandi of modern states—albeit in more subtle forms. This raises the question whether that makes civil servants naïve modernists, or whether theories of the modernist state are over-simplifying government practice. This study explores this question by means of interviews with civil servants involved in decision-making processes on infrastructure investments. It finds that modernist norms do not describe an actual practice, but reflect the language used to legitimize apractice in which policy makers are driven by a desire to act rather than objective knowledge about the world. Consequently, the study argues that the question we should be asking ourselves is not why states still operate according to modernist principles, but why civil servants legitimize their practice with a set of norms that does not seem to describe it. Show less
In vier case studies wordt onderzocht hoe het ethische beginsel in de theologie in het denken en doen van D. Chantepie de la Saussaye en J.H. Gerretsen uitwerkte
Dit literair-historisch proefschrift volgt het innovatieve proces van de romancyclus A la recherche du temps perdu die zich, mede onder invloed van de avant-garde schilderkunst, ontwikkelt van het ... Show moreDit literair-historisch proefschrift volgt het innovatieve proces van de romancyclus A la recherche du temps perdu die zich, mede onder invloed van de avant-garde schilderkunst, ontwikkelt van het ‘classicisme moderne’, de poëtica van de Nouvelle Revue Française die de roman kenmerkt in de beginfase, tot een literair modernisme. De korte, autonome passage uit de roman Sodom en Gomorra, waarin tot tweemaal toe het woord ‘rosace’ genoemd wordt, is ons uitgangspunt en speelt de hoofdrol bij de bestudering van de ideale compositie zoals die Marcel Proust voor ogen stond en zoals de auteur deze ‘Roos van Rivebelle’ een rol laat spelen in het creatieve wordingsproces van de verteller, waar zij een essentiële schakel lijkt te vormen in het leidmotief van de witte en roze meidoorns. De ‘Roos’ niet alleen in de betekenis van de bloemen behorend tot het geslacht Rosa, zinnebeeld van schoonheid, vergan kelijkheid en liefde, maar tevens in de architectonische en Franse betekenis van de grote Roos van de kerk oftewel het cirkelvormige roosvenster. Show less
In the period between the world wars the Rotterdam author Jo Otten revealed a view of the world in his writings that can be called fairly unique in Dutch literature. The first fruits of Otten's... Show moreIn the period between the world wars the Rotterdam author Jo Otten revealed a view of the world in his writings that can be called fairly unique in Dutch literature. The first fruits of Otten's pen were born during his education, when he studied Trade Economics. These are texts steeped in a melancholic atmosphere and betray the thinking of the French poet Charles Baudelaire. Over the years Otten became convinced that everything in life was dependant on a position of satisfaction. In his critical work he reacted to stagnation by pleading for a 'mobile' way of life, where everything was constantly on the move. It describes the hyper-awareness of the modernist: a person subject to doubt, who resists stagnation and reflects this in his work. Otten introduced his critical view of the world in the essay Mobiliteit en revolutie (Mobility and Revolution) (1932). In this essay he applauded the 'mobile person', an autonomous, chameleon-like figure who tries to escape social stagnation in various ways, some of them even surrealistic. Otten put into words the fundamental unrest that is the consequence of such a way of life in his kaleidoscopic novella Bed en wereld (Bed and World) (1932). Show less
