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Document Details :

Title: Heldendom in herinnering
Subtitle: Mythologie en geschiedenis in Jacob Duyms Nassausche Perseus
Author(s): JANSEN, Jeroen
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 56    Issue: 2   Date: 2014   
Pages: 155-181
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.56.2.3030638

Abstract :
In Nassausche Perseus (1606) Jacob Duym uses the Ovidian myth of Perseus to illustrate historical progress in the period between the arrival and departure (1567-1573) of the Duke of Alba in and from the Netherlands. The text interferes between two worlds, as the play tells the story of the myth and highlights actual historical events of the Revolt in between. The poet, being one of the characters in this play, steers the understanding by addressing a prologue and epilogue, and by explaining the allegory a few times in between. This article analyses the dynamic process created by the text between past and present, between fiction and reality. It shows how the myth, as a narrative strategy, has been exploited as to actualize history, in order to persuade the readers to think in a direction desired by the author.

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