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- ISSN: 1384-5829
- E-ISSN: 2352-118X
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Waar is Jacob Israël de Haan? Over culturele herinnering en literatuurgeschiedenis
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Nederlandse Letterkunde, Volume 31, Issue 1, apr. 2026, p. 6 - 30
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- 01 apr. 2026
Samenvatting
Abstract
This article examines the cultural memory and literary afterlife of the Dutch writer Jacob Israël de Haan (1881-1924), asking how his work continues to circulate despite his marginal position in Dutch literary historiography. Taking Pierre Bayard’s reflections on the spectrum between reading and not-reading as a point of departure, the author investigates how De Haan and his work circulate in contemporary cultural memory. The article demonstrates that De Haan’s continued visibility depends on processes of cultural memorialization and reuse in public space, via street names, plaques, and memorials with his poetry. Elaborating on the work by Kila van der Starre on street poetry, the article shows how these material forms of remembrance function as sites where literary, political, and identity-based meanings intersect in various ways. De Haan’s poetry, particularly its brevity, lyricism, and recurring themes of longing, memory and displacement, proves especially suitable for such cultural reuse. His identities as a Jewish and homosexual writer further enhance the ‘usability’ of his work – in Rita Felski’s sense – in debates about cultural memory, emancipation and national identity. The article contends that the monumentalization of literature has become a crucial condition for sustaining the cultural relevance of literary authors in a context where the cultural capital of literature has become increasingly fragile.
© Agnes Andeweg