De Moderne Tijd - Volume 2, Issue 3-4, 2018

FRIENDLY COMPANIONS OR ‘CORRODED’ DEVILS Willem Bilderdijk and the animals In 1817 the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk published De dieren (The animals), one of his shortest but less studied didactic poems. In this work he presented a curious view on animals and their origins. With this article, I would like to contribute to the field of animal studies, by analyzing Bilderdijk’s ideas on and his contacts with animals. The first p Read More

THE FISH HAVE TO PAY DEARLY AS WELL The representations of animals and vegetarianism in the works of Herman Heijermans and other socially engaged writers of the fin de siècle At the end of the nineteenth century, the perception of animals changed significantly due to the theory of evolution and other new ideas, which also affected a number of Dutch socialist-leaning writers. Utilizing the framework of literary animal Read More

A NEW KIND OF LOVE FOR THE CAT The subversive, domestic cat of Dutch artists, 1885-1910 The nineteenth century is often hallmarked as the epoch of the birth of the pet. The life of cats in the Netherlands improved especially thanks to two groups: a bourgeois and noble elite embracing the cat in imitation of English peers, and (poor) artists who looked particularly towards France where authors and painters such as Baud Read More

THE DINOSAUR’S AMBIGUITY Sea snakes, Iguanodons and why Brussels did not receive its Diplodocus In the opening years of the twentieth century, the Scottish magnate Andrew Carnegie used the donation of plaster casts of the dinosaur Diplodocusas a means to influence European heads of state in favor of his scheme for conflict arbitration. This contribution examines the way in which these casts became a border object bet Read More

EMPEROR WILHELM II AS DOG OWNER Instrumentalisation of the monarchy in dog breeding debates Nineteenth century European rulers could not consider hunting or dog ownership a private choice. Regarding the role dog breeding had started to play in society, every decision made by the vips of that time was perceived as a political indication; the contemporary public discussed the choices and commented on them. Various gr Read More

THE KILLING OF ANIMALS IN THE NETHERLANDS, 1860-1940 A inconvenient part of the human-animal relationship This article explores the rise of the animal protection movement and its propaganda to improve the humane killing of animals in the Netherlands. From 1880 onwards, veterinarians became advisors of animal protection societies because they were considered objective judges with scientific knowledge o Read More