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Document Details :

Title: Intellectueelders en bloembolteelders
Subtitle: Gerard Reve en de dichotomische representatie van het culturele veld
Author(s): PRAAT, Edwin
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 56    Issue: 3   Date: 2014   
Pages: 335-359
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.56.3.3040765

Abstract :
The dichotomous model that classifies cultural objects on the basis of binary oppositions like ‘high/low’, ‘art/entertainment’, ‘elitist/popular’ is generally considered to be a legacy of Kant’s aesthetics. Although this model has been gradually losing ground since the mid-twentieth century, cultural products are still frequently valued according to the model’s oppositions. The Dutch author Gerard Reve combined elements from both sides of the dichotomy, both in his work and in his public manifestation. Three case studies, De Grote Gerard Reve Show (‘The Great Gerard Reve Show’), Reve’s self-representation as ‘volksschrijver’ (‘people’s author’) and the exhibition of a wisdom tooth of the author in a museum show that journalists and academics were confused and, in some cases, offended by the mix Reve offered. Reve’s self-representation and its reception demonstrate both the historic reality and the transitoriness of the dichotomous model in the Dutch literary field.

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