Dutch Literature

tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
I offer the following as a follow-on to wordeater's post above. I have been reading both Indonesian and Dutch colonial books lately and that prompted me to investigate both subjects in more depth. In the course of doing so, I came across the website of the Digital Library for Dutch Literature. There's a wealth of information on their pages (available only in the Dutch language...however, one virtue of the Bing search engine is its ability to translate a webpage into a language of your choice in real time). I found some interesting stuff which, among other things, makes clear just how little I know about Dutch literature. I was pleased to recognize a number of authors' names and even books I have read but dismayed at how many names were completely unknown to me.

In 2002, they compiled a Dutch literary canon. I have gone through and edited out the works published before 1800. What remains is quite interesting, I think. The dates are publication dates, of course, and the numbers following are the number of times (out of 299 responses) a work was named (from a survey taken of 1489 members of the Society of Dutch Literature). I should add that, judging from the responses, the list was all-inclusive, meaning that any work--whether fiction, poetry, drama, or even non-fiction--including even a translation of the Bible--might be named. In fact, the complete list includes the top 125 works, but because works after the top 50 were named in only 6 or fewer responses, I have simply cut off the list at that point.

Finally, after the list of the top 50, I have reproduced their "top 10" lists of works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Happy reading!

1. Multatuli, Max Havelaar (1860) (135)
3. Gerard Reve, The Evenings (1947) (72)
5. W.F. Hermans, The Dark Room of Damocles (1958) (57)
6. Nicholas Beets (Hildebrand), Camera obscura (1839) (53)
9. W.F. Hermans, Never Sleep Again (1966) (30)
10. P.C. Hooft, Lyricism [including songs, sonnets] (28)
12. Louis Couperus, Eline Vere (1889) (25)
13. Herman Gorter, May (1889) (25)
15. Louis Couperus, Of Old Men, The Things That Pass (1906) (24)
19. Louis-Paul Boon, The Chapel Track (1953) (19)
20. Hugo Claus, The Sorrow of Belgium (1983) (19)
21. Nescio, The Eater (1918) (18)
22. Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven (1992) (18)
23. Louis Couperus, The Little Souls (1901) (17)
24. Willem Elsschot, Glue (1924) (17)
26. Nescio, Titans (1918) (15)
27. F. Bordewijk, Character (1938) (15)
28. E. du Perron, The Country of Origin (1935) (14)
29. F. Bordewijk, Bint (1934) (13)
30. Willem Elsschot, The Leg (1938) (13)
31. Frederik van Eeden, Little John (1885-1906) (12)
33. Gerard Reve, Closer to You (1966) (11)
34. Theo Thijssen, Kees the boy (1923) (10)
35. Harry Mulisch, The Stone Bridal Bed (1959) (10)
36. Ida Gerhardt, Collected Poems (1980) (10)
38. Nescio, Little Poet (1918) (9)
39. Willem Elsschot, Cheese (1933) (9)
40. Simon Vestdijk, Back to Ina Damman (1934) (9)
41. Harry Mulisch, The Attack (1982) (9)
44. Herman Gorter, Verses (1890) (8)
45. Marcellus Emants, A Bequeathed Confession (1894) (8)
46. Multatuli, Woutertje Pieterse (1862-1877) (7)
47. J.H. Leopold, Poems (posthumous, 1983-1985) (7)
48. Louis Couperus, The Silent Force (1900) (7)
49. Martin Nijhoff, Awater (1934) (7)
50. J.C. Bloem, Collected Poems (1947) (7)



Nineteenth Century
1. Multatuli, Max Havelaar (1860) (135)
2. Nicholas Beets (Hildebrand), Camera obscura (1839) (53)
3. Louis Couperus, Eline Vere (1889) (25)
4. Herman Gorter, May (1889) (25)
5. Frederik van Eeden, Little John (1885-1906) (12)
6. Herman Gorter, Verses (1890) (8)
7. Marcellus Emants, A Bequeathed Confession (1894) (8)
8. Multatuli, Woutertje Pieterse (1862-1877) (7)
9. Jacob van Lennep, Ferdinand Huyck (1840) (4)
10. Multatuli, Ideën (1862-1877) (4)
11. François Haverschmidt (Piet Paaltjens), Snikken en grimlachjes (1867) (4)

Modern Era (from 1900 to present)
1. Gerard Reve, The Evenings (1947) (72)
2. W.F. Hermans, The Dark Room of Damocles (1958) (57)
3. W.F. Hermans, Never Sleep Again (1966) (30)
4. Louis Couperus, Of Old Men, The Things That Pass (1906) (24)
5. Louis-Paul Boon, The Chapel Track (1953) (19)
6. Hugo Claus, The Sorrow of Belgium (1983) (19)
7. Nescio, The Eater (1918) (18)
8. Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven (1992) (18)
9. Louis Couperus, The Little Souls (1901) (17)
10. Willem Elsschot, Glue (1924) (17)
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
Oops. Forgot one fascinating little tidbit:

"The most important work in Dutch literature"

1. Multatuli, Max Havelaar (1860) (87)
2. x
3. x
4. x
5. Louis Couperus, The Little Souls (1901) (7)
6. W.F. Hermans, The Dark Room of Damocles (1958) (5)

["x" meaning published pre-1800]
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
tiganeasca said:
I offer the following as a follow-on to wordeater's post above. I have been reading both Indonesian and Dutch colonial books lately and that prompted me to investigate both subjects in more depth. In the course of doing so, I came across the website of the Digital Library for Dutch Literature. There's a wealth of information on their pages (available only in the Dutch language...however, one virtue of the Bing search engine is its ability to translate a webpage into a language of your choice in real time). I found some interesting stuff which, among other things, makes clear just how little I know about Dutch literature. I was pleased to recognize a number of authors' names and even books I have read but dismayed at how many names were completely unknown to me.

In 2002, they compiled a Dutch literary canon. I have gone through and edited out the works published before 1800. What remains is quite interesting, I think. The dates are publication dates, of course, and the numbers following are the number of times (out of 299 responses) a work was named (from a survey taken of 1489 members of the Society of Dutch Literature). I should add that, judging from the responses, the list was all-inclusive, meaning that any work--whether fiction, poetry, drama, or even non-fiction--including even a translation of the Bible--might be named. In fact, the complete list includes the top 125 works, but because works after the top 50 were named in only 6 or fewer responses, I have simply cut off the list at that point.

Finally, after the list of the top 50, I have reproduced their "top 10" lists of works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Happy reading!

1. Multatuli, Max Havelaar (1860) (135)
3. Gerard Reve, The Evenings (1947) (72)
5. W.F. Hermans, The Dark Room of Damocles (1958) (57)
6. Nicholas Beets (Hildebrand), Camera obscura (1839) (53)
9. W.F. Hermans, Never Sleep Again (1966) (30)
10. P.C. Hooft, Lyricism [including songs, sonnets] (28)
12. Louis Couperus, Eline Vere (1889) (25)
13. Herman Gorter, May (1889) (25)
15. Louis Couperus, Of Old Men, The Things That Pass (1906) (24)
19. Louis-Paul Boon, The Chapel Track (1953) (19)
20. Hugo Claus, The Sorrow of Belgium (1983) (19)
21. Nescio, The Eater (1918) (18)
22. Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven (1992) (18)
23. Louis Couperus, The Little Souls (1901) (17)
24. Willem Elsschot, Glue (1924) (17)
26. Nescio, Titans (1918) (15)
27. F. Bordewijk, Character (1938) (15)
28. E. du Perron, The Country of Origin (1935) (14)
29. F. Bordewijk, Bint (1934) (13)
30. Willem Elsschot, The Leg (1938) (13)
31. Frederik van Eeden, Little John (1885-1906) (12)
33. Gerard Reve, Closer to You (1966) (11)
34. Theo Thijssen, Kees the boy (1923) (10)
35. Harry Mulisch, The Stone Bridal Bed (1959) (10)
36. Ida Gerhardt, Collected Poems (1980) (10)
38. Nescio, Little Poet (1918) (9)
39. Willem Elsschot, Cheese (1933) (9)
40. Simon Vestdijk, Back to Ina Damman (1934) (9)
41. Harry Mulisch, The Attack (1982) (9)
44. Herman Gorter, Verses (1890) (8)
45. Marcellus Emants, A Bequeathed Confession (1894) (8)
46. Multatuli, Woutertje Pieterse (1862-1877) (7)
47. J.H. Leopold, Poems (posthumous, 1983-1985) (7)
48. Louis Couperus, The Silent Force (1900) (7)
49. Martin Nijhoff, Awater (1934) (7)
50. J.C. Bloem, Collected Poems (1947) (7)



Nineteenth Century
1. Multatuli, Max Havelaar (1860) (135)
2. Nicholas Beets (Hildebrand), Camera obscura (1839) (53)
3. Louis Couperus, Eline Vere (1889) (25)
4. Herman Gorter, May (1889) (25)
5. Frederik van Eeden, Little John (1885-1906) (12)
6. Herman Gorter, Verses (1890) (8)
7. Marcellus Emants, A Bequeathed Confession (1894) (8)
8. Multatuli, Woutertje Pieterse (1862-1877) (7)
9. Jacob van Lennep, Ferdinand Huyck (1840) (4)
10. Multatuli, Ideën (1862-1877) (4)
11. François Haverschmidt (Piet Paaltjens), Snikken en grimlachjes (1867) (4)

Modern Era (from 1900 to present)
1. Gerard Reve, The Evenings (1947) (72)
2. W.F. Hermans, The Dark Room of Damocles (1958) (57)
3. W.F. Hermans, Never Sleep Again (1966) (30)
4. Louis Couperus, Of Old Men, The Things That Pass (1906) (24)
5. Louis-Paul Boon, The Chapel Track (1953) (19)
6. Hugo Claus, The Sorrow of Belgium (1983) (19)
7. Nescio, The Eater (1918) (18)
8. Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven (1992) (18)
9. Louis Couperus, The Little Souls (1901) (17)
10. Willem Elsschot, Glue (1924) (17)
Click to expand...
I´m going to post this lists in the German Forum. There is at least one guy there that will be interested.
 
wordeater

wordeater

Well-known member
tiganeasca said:
I offer the following as a follow-on to wordeater's post above.
Click to expand...
Thanks. It's a typical canon with a lot of important titles, but also weaknesses. Women, Belgians and recent novels are undervalued. I would put Mulisch, Boon, Claus and Hermans on top. Women like Hella S. Haasse and Kristien Hemmerechts should also be included. Personally I've never got past page 50 of a Couperus novel, but maybe I should give him another chance.
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
wordeater said:
Thanks. It's a typical canon with a lot of important titles, but also weaknesses. Women, Belgians and recent novels are undervalued. I would put Mulisch, Boon, Claus and Hermans on top. Women like Hella S. Haasse and Kristien Hemmerechts should also be included. Personally I've never got past page 50 of a Couperus novel, but maybe I should give him another chance.
Click to expand...
Agreed about the issues with this (or any) canon.

Here are numbers 85, 86, and 87:

Anne Frank, Het achterhuis (postuum, 1947) (3) [The Secret Annex]
Hella Haasse, Oeroeg (1948) (3)
Hella Haasse, Het woud der verwachting (1949) (3) [The Forest of Expectation ]

No Hemmerechts.

I've read a couple by Couperus and he's certainly writing from another time and place. That said, I will also say that I thought that The Silent Force (coming in at #48) was a pretty impressive work. I recently picked up an old edition of Little Souls (#23) and perhaps I should move it up the list.
 
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