De Moderne Tijd - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2017

AN HOUR WITH DIRK COSTER The self-fashioning of a literary informant In 1927, the French literary magazine La Nouvelle Littéraire published an interview with the Dutch writer Dirk Coster by the renowned critic Frédéric Lefèvre in the series ‘Une heure avec ...’. Coster used the opportunity to present himself as an international cultural mediator and as a spokesman of a humanistic conception of literature. This article analyses t Read More

‘WHY CROSSES INSTEAD OF POLLUTION?’ The diary of Leo Polak (1901-1941) and the discourse against masturbation The diary of the Dutch criminal law theorist, philosopher, and freethinker Leo Polak, which recently has become accessible, contains symbols such as ‘X’ and ‘#’. In this article, I interpret such symbols not as ‘silence’, but as disguising, narrative strategies. These symbols and the way Polak reflects on the Read More

‘A VENERABLE, GIANT PIECE OF WORK’ The Illustrated Bible (1900) De Geïllustreerde Bijbel (The Illustrated Bible, 1900) is a Dutch Bible edition, initiated by the Illustrated Bible Society, containing 100 engravings by 27 artists from all over the world and decorated by Arts and Crafts artist Walter Crane. This essay shows the history of this bible project. It discusses the aims of the Illustrated Bible Society, the reception of the Read More

‘THIS IS A MAN SPEAKING’ The use of gender metaphors in the Movement of the 1880’s This article deals with the role of gender in the poetics and literary strategy within the so-called Movement of the 1880s (De Tachtigers). The analysis of the use of gendered metaphors in the writings of Willem Kloos, Lodewijk van Deyssel, Frans Netscher and Albert Verwey between 1882 and 1889 demonstrates that gender plays a specif Read More

‘WAS HÄTTEN VERSE VON DIESER DEZENZ ZU FÜRCHTEN’ On homosexuality and poetry Concepts of homosexuality circulate in the societal domain and affect literary culture. The first half of the twentieth century saw an increasing domestication of the public domain regarding homosexual practices. Using three perspectives – text, authorial posture, and reception – and focussing on a specific case, a volume of apparently h Read More