DUTCH LITERATURE

the movement towards naturalism, begun in the eighties with the founding of de nieuwe gids, was succeeded towards the end of the century by a definitely democratic tendency, of which the delicate and con- sciously simple works of adama van scheltema and those of the fiery revolutionary henriette roland holst were most repre- sentative. soon, however, the influence of albert verwey, with his monthly de beweging, made itself felt. verwevy, originally one of the men of the eighties, gradually developed a more bal- anced style, resulting at its best in symbolism, and in its less happy phases in extreme intellectualism. this movement gave rise to a number of ‘poets who gave to the period under revision its special character. in the eyes of these younger men verwey was regarded as the leader. it was more by virtue of his ideas—the exalting of imagination to the rank of the supreme function of the intellect, by whose light one can best learn to understand the soul and the world—than by his poetry, which only too often bears the marks of laborious creation. of the elder poets, boutens, henriette roland holst, karel van de woestijne and verwey continued to produce work of merit— boutens, full of thought and melody; henriette roland holst, full of mysticism and ideas of the brotherhood of man—karel van de woestijne, the fleming, voluptuous, sensual, reminiscent of the period of the renaissance. j. h. leopold (d. 1925) wrote little, but nevertheless exercised a certain influence on the younger generation. others worthy of mention are geerten gossaert, the central idea of whose work experimenien (1919) is the consciousness of the ego, controlled, if not always success- fully, by christian faith; a. roland holst, a nephew of henriette, who (with jan prins, the inspired poet of the sea and the orient, and martien beversluis) was perhaps the most prominent poet of this time. he has--what is rare in the poems of verwev’s followers—a soft, easy flow of song, a yearning for some hidden beauty existing far away beyond sea horizons, and a deep feeling of mystery underlying the delicate description of some common- place scene. the works of jacob israel de haan (d. 1924), are, like those of gossaert, permeated by a strong, sincere religious faith. he is more direct and passionate in his expression than gossaert, and unlike the latter never lapses into rhetoric, but is terse and concise. although not fully appreciated by the leading critics in the beweging circle, martien beversluis succeeds by means of an un- commonly delicate and vivid combination of wording and rhyme in giving a surprising and brilliant form to his visions of nature. of the younger poets, constituting more or less a group, mention may be made of m. nijhoff, the poet of child dreams robbed of their lustre by the realities of life; werumeus buning, whose small volume i# afemoriam (1924), blooms as a flower of con- templation which has sprung up in a pale, still dawn on the grave of a dead love; van schagen, who in formless recitatives rejoices in the gloriousness of every aspect of life; besnard, who in ap- parently easy-flowing verse makes us fcel the emptiness of mod- ern life; slauerhoff, whose conception of life is similar but more humane, and who therefore can afford to smile now and then. the flemings, wies moens and urbain van der voorde, may also be included in this survey of post-war poctry and there are a number of others. fiction.—during this period the novel came to flower. the later works of the painter-novelist jac. van looy, who belongs to the older school, show a departure from his early plastic man- ner. in jaapje (1917) and jaap, reminiscences of his childhood, he shows a complete understanding of the mind of a child free from all sophisticated comments. with him may be coupled ary prins, who in 1913 completed his heilige tocht; in its impression- ism a typical work of the eighties. dutlch-literature couperus, up to the time of his death in 1923, wrote novels dealing with aristocratic life, brilliantly coloured stories of olden times, such as herakles (1913), de koomediunten (1917) and js- kander (1920). in this latter period he also showed himself a master of the short story, frequently told en the first person. iterman robbers in his later work never surpassed his roman van ec gezin, a study in social psychology. j. de meester fol- lowed up his masterpiece geertje (1921) by many stories full of irony and hatred of respectability. van hulzen, after producing a number of striking sketches dealing with people living outside society, wrote various novels on the subject of love and marriage. realism on the broad lines of zola probably found its greatest representative in is. querido, who, in his romantic cycle de jordaan (1914) drew a brutal picture of life in this typical quarter of amsterdam, whilst in de oude wuereld (1918) he attempted to resurrect the ancient civilisation of the orient, and was on the whole successful. in the portrayal of times past, ancient civilisations, and in the modern historical novel (which differs from the romanticism of 1850-70 in that it makes deeper psychological investigations) he was preceded by ary prins and couperus, by adrian van oort and arthur van schendel. the latter, however, was more individual in his treatment of these subjects. p. h. van moerkerken also wrote a series of novels dealing especially with the past life of his country. a great many women contributed towards the romantic litera- ture of the period. in collaboration with her husband, carel scharten, margo antink, having given independent proof of a talent for vigorous naturalistic work, produced a series of large scale pictures of various phases of society, mostly italian. the vigorous style of the woman was combined with the man’s tendency towards preciosite. mention may also be made of top naeff, who began her literary carcer with a number of books for girls, but later produced works dealing with subtle feminine psychology, including the great novel voor de poort (1914), a story dealing with the unreturned love of a woman. ina boudier bakker produced work widely divergent in char- acter—symbolic stories, reminiscent of norway, plays and a num- ber of excellent sketches of children. her talent, however, was shown to the best advantage in novels of family life, such as armocde (1917) and het spiegelije (1917), which were greatly admired and achieved great popularity. augusta de wit wrote admirable novels about the dutch east indies. carry van bruggen—whose husband, kees van bruggen, under her influ- ence, developed into an important novelist of great imaginative power—in her novels is inclined to indulge in one-sided argu- ments. her sketches, however, which frequently deal with children, are mostly masterpieces of observation, full of subtle humour. jo van ammers-kiiller, author of several plays, wrote a number of novels dealing with theatrical life, such as //ct [huts der vreugden (1922) and jenny heysten (1923). annie salo- mons—who also wrote under the zom-de-plume of ada van gerlo —wrote a number of novels and sketches dealing with the as- pirations of the modern woman. nico van suchtelen is the chief representative of symbolism in fiction. dramatic literature-—the period is best represented by heyermans, who in his later plays attempted symbolism, but was really more at home in realism. he wrote one extremely witty play, de wijze kater (1920). of emants’ later work, om de afensen is notable as a description of society life at the hague. one of the best plays of madame j. a. simons-mees is levens- stroomingen, which depicts the conflict between parents and children, both sides are represented with strict impartiality. jan fabricius has given us a series of plays dealing with the tropics, but they are very unequal. henzaam and de meteoor are perhaps the best. madame ranucci-beckman and dr. p. c. van rossem wrote a number of witty drawing-room plays. alph. laudy’s de paradijsvloek was a partly successful attempt at a monumental work. the 20th compared with the 19th century shows a considerable improvement as regards the number of original plays produced, and on the whole interest in the stage has grown, the artistic standard has been raised, and a higher level of performance demanded and exercised. (see netherlands.) duveneck—dyeing see h. robbers, de nederlandsche litteratuur na 1880 (1922); dirk coster, nrewwe geluiden (1924). cwa) duveneck, frank (1848-1919), american painter (sce 8.737), died in cincinnati, o., jan. 3 1919. he was awarded a special gold medal at the san francisco exposition in 1915, and in the same year he presented to the cincinnati muscum a large collection of his own works.