Nederlandse Letterkunde - Volume 30, Issue 2-3, 2025

Biological metaphors have been a topic of scientific debate for decades, in particular metaphorical concepts of biological information (‘code’) or living systems. While some of the most prominent metaphors have been adopted directly from literary texts, the specifically literary references have received little systematic attention. It is remarkable that metaphors in biology are often used in a different way than in other natural sciences. While physics and chemistry tend to favor deterministic explanatory models, biology lends itself especially to narrative approaches that emphasize the open and contingent nature of living systems. Using a typology based on the most influential biological metaphors, I show how literary motifs are not only used as explanatory devices but can also invite critical reflection on well-known teleological pitfalls in evolutionary theory. These narrative metaphors derived from literary sources do not only function as illustrations but also as epistemological tools that connect biology to its roots in the historia naturalis.

This article delves into the role of literature within Humanistic Studies, focusing on its dual function as a catalyst for self-reflection and a means of broadening horizons (in Dutch: horizonverbreding). Literature enables humanists to develop crucial skills such as self-awareness and empathy, which are foundational to their professional practice. These qualities are particularly significant in humanistic counselling, where literature is used in both individual and group settings to facilitate the exploration of existential themes.

Additionally, the relationship between literature and humanistic philosophy is analysed. It highlights how literature’s ability to engage with diverse perspectives and to question established values serves not only everyday practices but also the continuous evolution of Humanistic Studies as a discipline itself. By integrating literature into both personal development and professional practice, Humanistic Studies utilizes literary texts to deepen ethical and existential understanding. This multifaceted approach highlights the significance of literature as a foundational element in the normative science of Humanistic Studies, supporting theoretical frameworks and practical applications in addressing complex human experiences and promoting meaningful dialogue within diverse contexts

In recent decades, many autobiographical accounts have been published in which doctors reflect on their early experiences as young physicians. A ‘narrating-I’ looks back on training, internship and first steps in the workplace, as well as on the events, encounters and places that were significant during that time. As such, the narratives represent a crucial episode in the character formation of these doctors. In this article, we show that an innovative virtue-ethics informed narratological analysis offers valuable insights into how young doctors develop in those autobiographies. We conclude that this development comes down to: learning to respond more (ethically) appropriately to situations, so that one can perform tasks (morally) better, fulfill roles more responsible, and ultimately lead a happier life. Central to this is the regulation of emotions, especially in response to events, encounters with others, and the environment. We also identify three key conditions for doctors’ virtue development: a) opportunities for practice through habit formation and role models, and b) self-evaluation of actions. We also observe (c) the important role of secondary sources (intertextuality), helping the young doctor to assess their experiences, attitudes, and actions, while correcting negative socializing patterns. In conclusion we reflect on the relevance of the results for researchers and educators involved in the training of doctors.

The impasse of modern literature about the writing of poetry after Auschwitz (Adorno) has a counterpart in theology. How can one speak of God after Auschwitz and after the death of God (Hegel, Nietzsche)? The contemporary American philosopher John D. Caputo does not see this impasse as the end of theology, but rather as the possibility of a new beginning. Inspired by hermeneutics, phenomenology, and especially Derrida’s deconstruction, he developed a radical hermeneutics and a radical theology that seeks to replace logic with a poetic discourse. Theo-logy becomes theo-poetics. This article examines Caputo’s theopoetics in relation to (postmodern) literary studies, asking how his theopoetics challenges our way of reading texts. The article begins by discussing the background and content of Caputo’s theopoetics. God is the name of an event that breaks through reality and calls us. The call of the event has a transforming effect when we respond. The article then asks what Caputo’s thoughts on the event, the call, and transformation can mean for our perspective on literature. Can we also discern the event in literary texts? This is illustrated by a case study in which the poetry of Emily Dickinson is read from the perspective of Caputo’s theopoetics.

The novel Gebied 19 (Area 19) of Dutch author Esther Gerritsen is read primarily as a story about truth and fiction. Not surprisingly, as the novel is partly set in a fictional world and the main character’s name is Tomas, a reference to the biblical ‘Doubting Thomas’. An interpretation from the perspective of Law and Literature provides insights into the specific role memory plays for a democratic rule of law and how populism actively organizes its own power through a politics of ‘memorylessness’. As is argued and demonstrated on the basis of an analysis of the novel, memorylessness is a ticket to autocracy, but a democracy also needs some memorylessness for hope and forgiveness.

Building on a recent historiographical revalorisation of the relationship between literary fiction and the materiality of the city, this article questions the value of literary narratives as a source for documenting forgotten and neglected actors and evolutions in urban and business history. The enduring role of local, small-scale and labour-intensive production by ordinary urban entrepreneurs, for instance, left few traces in the archives but received a place in literature. In the 1924 novel Lijmen (Soft Soap), Willem Elsschot, pseudonym of Alfons De Ridder (1882-1960), meticulously described the operation and equipment of forge Lauwereyssen, situated in the city centre of Brussels. Relying on various business-historical sources and rediscovered copies of the advertising magazine Revue Générale/ Continentale, where De Ridder was editor in 1912-14 and drew inspiration for the story, the article examines to what extent Lijmen confirms, nuances, complements or enriches existing knowledge about small-scale industry in the early twentieth-century city. The analysis highlights how the tangible descriptions in the story shed an unsuspected qualitative, comprehensive light on the organisation of small-scale business in the city, in particular on the logistical and financial challenges they faced to keep their activity going in the city centre at the time of burgeoning urban de-industrialisation.

The PISA and PIRLS rankings of the Netherlands show a steady decline for reading, a trend attributed by many to the dominant use of non-fiction texts in instruction and testing. This bias has drawn all attention to text organization and its linguistic marking, features that many students find boring and demotivating. A more frequent use of literary texts may regain their interest. Findings from two psycholinguistic experiments are presented to show how reading performance can be assessed with literary text. A passage from a contemporary novel was presented to adolescent students, most between 16 and 17 years of age, from two different educational programs: 828 preparatory vocational and 813 pre-university. Performance was assessed for affective response and comprehension (factual reproduction, conceptual understanding). All scores were analyzed in relation to three personal characteristics (school type, gender, immigrant background) and two task variables (lexical and contextual facilitation). Pupils with an immigrant background scored slightly lower while those with pre-university education scored significantly higher. The other factors had little influence. Test scores covered the entire range of the conventional ten points grading system. Just like expository and argumentative texts, literary texts can be used as adequate and unbiased tests of reading performance.

Automatically generated poetry has a long history, dating back at least to John Peter’s (1677) algorithm that was able to produce almost 600,000 Latin lines of poetry. Attention to this topic has come in waves; for example, within Dadaism there was substantial focus on procedures to quasi-randomly generate poems. With the advent of large language models such as ChatGPT, automated poetry is once again in the spotlight. Within artificial intelligence, the existence of automatically generated poetry raises questions that have received extensive attention from literary scholars for much longer. What makes a poem innovative? Is it possible or even desirable to determine the quality of a poem? This article describes which reading methods are used within artificial intelligence to answer these questions. Furthermore, we describe how poetry functions and has functioned within the domain of artificial intelligence. We argue that poetry is used as a touchstone for human intelligence, as a testing ground to gain insight into technological and cognitive processes, and as a marketing trick to give AI systems a human face.