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Document Details :

Title: Het theater van de herinnering
Subtitle: Vaderlands-historisch toneel in de achttiende eeuw
Author(s): JENSEN, Lotte , VAN DEINSEN, Lieke
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 54    Issue: 2   Date: 2012   
Pages: 193-225
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.54.2.2160686

Abstract :
The eighteenth century saw the production of over seventy plays depicting episodes from Dutch history, most of which were published between 1770 and 1795. During this highly turbulent period in Dutch politics, a cult-like strand of patriotism, which had been on the rise since the 1760s, pervaded Dutch culture and seized upon the nation’s history. By utilising Michael Rothberg’s concept of 'multidirectional memory', this article analyses pertinent trends in the production and publication of Dutch historical plays between 1770 and 1795. Accordingly, it is possible to discern three separate stages in the late eighteenth-century development of Dutch memory cultures. The first decade is marked by mnemonic multiplicity: in the absence of demarcated memory cultures, the pursuit of intranational concord still prevails. Between 1780 and 1787, however, we can trace the development of distinct memory domains that are claimed by Orangists and Patriots respectively. This trend persists between 1787 and 1795, when the erstwhile multidirectionality of memory cultures virtually loses its cogency.

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