- ISSN: 0923-7771
- E-ISSN: 2665-9492
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oa Een gezaghebbend ‘katholiek’
Nieuw ontdekte bronnen betreffende Gerard Kornelis van het Reve en de Katholieke Actie in Nederland, 1962-1964
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: DNK : Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse kerkgeschiedenis na 1800, Volume 42, Issue 90, Jul 2019, p. 3 - 27
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- 01 Jul 2019
Abstract
The famous Dutch author G.K. van het Reve (later: Gerard Reve) converted to Catholicism and was baptized in 1966. This surprising move was a cause célèbre in the Netherlands in the 1960s. In his Reve-biography Nop Maas refers to Reve’s early contacts with Roman Catholics, but did not elaborate on it due to lack of sources. Jan Peet found reports on one of these contacts in the archives of the Katholieke Actie, a center of reflection on Dutch Catholicism. This article gives an account of the meetings in the years 1962-1964, based on these reports. Reve was present several times at meetings on modern literature, where the content of the Catholic faith was discussed, and the relation of this faith and modern literature, including one of Reve’s poems. The notes of the meetings are sometimes ad verbum, and they show Reve’s involvement in the debates. Though he could be ironic in tone and blasphemic in his expressions, Reve was met with respect in these circles, and it is clear that he is serious in his personal reflections on Roman Catholicism and modern culture. The meetings may have contributed to his artistic development.
