Description
Within the framework of my NWO Veni project Poets and Profits. A New Literary History of Dutch Authorship (1550-1750) I am currently investigating relationships of patronage between Dutch poets and foreign patrons. Whereas patronage was an organizing mechanism in the whole of early modern Europe, and relationships of patronage between poets and the powerful and wealthy burgher elites in flourishing Dutch cities did occur frequently, as a consequence of the lack of a flourishing court culture more structural or formalized relationships of patronage were difficult to obtain within the borders of the Dutch Republic.The most famous example of a poet seeking patronage abroad was Joost van den Vondel, who wrote poems for foreign rulers as diverse as Christina van Zweden, several Danish kings and queens, and Johan Maurits van Nassau, who was a Dutch prince but worked for the larger part of his life outside of the Dutch Republic, in Brazil and in the German county of Cleves. These poems by Vondel have never been analysed from the perspective of his economic advancement. I assume this advancement may have had a firm Dutch basis, since Vondel’s poems often mediated between Amsterdam and the foreign rulers, but at the same time, we know of some rewards Vondel received from the foreign rulers directly. In order to be able to say something about Vondel’s advancements the crossing border network must be taken into account, as well as the foreign contexts in which his poems functioned.
In my paper for the Ghent conference Literature without Frontiers? about transnational networks of poets and patrons I will address cases that are not really (Elisabeth Hoofman, Maria Margaretha van Akerlaecken) or not at all (Jan van der Noot, Joost van den Vondel) unfamiliar in extant histories of Dutch literature but whose impact and importance could be brought out differently in a transnational framework, since this framework leads to both an increased understanding of the ‘business models’ of early modern Dutch authors, as well as emphasizes the importance of European courts for the development of Dutch literature. The case of Elisabeth Hoofman, for example, shows how a talented Dutch woman writer with reluctance to print-publish her works changed her strategy under the influence of the German landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who advanced her with gifts and her husband with a job in his retinue. At the same time, Maria Margaretha van Akerlaecken, who wrote poems with a rather underwhelming literary quality, was probably incited by Johan Maurits van Nassau to print-publish what would turn out to be the first secular printed volume by a Dutch woman writer ever. She dedicated the volume to him and to the Great Elector, Frederik I van Brandenburg.
In my paper, I elaborate on some of the mentioned poets and patrons and their relationships, reflecting on why and how a transnational approach is necessary in analysing these cases. I will also shortly address the methodological challenges this transnational undertaking brings about, mainly as related to archival research and one’s own networks as a researcher.
| Period | 9 Feb 2018 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Literatures without Frontiers? Perspectives for a Transnational Literary History of the Low Countries |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Ghent, BelgiumShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |