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Document Details :

Title: Twee maal springtij
Subtitle: Het Nederlandse epos tussen 1780 en 1850
Author(s): JENSEN, Lotte
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 60    Issue: 1-2   Date: 2018   
Pages: 59-80
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.60.1.3285416

Abstract :
Between 1975 and 1983 two volumes were published of Kalliope in de Nederlanden. Het renaissancistisch-klassicistische epos van 1550 tot 1850 by W.A.P. Smit. To date it remains the most extensive study on the early modern Dutch epic. The third volume, which should have covered the period 1780-1850 and which was provisionally entitled Eb en vervloeiing (‘Low tide and liquefaction’), was never published. This article offers a general overview of the tendencies in this period. It demonstrates that biblical themes were replaced by national-historical themes and that the genre was heavily politicised. Between 1780 and 1815 one might even speak of ‘spring tide’: authors commented on actual politics by means of the epic. Finally, it is argued that more research is needed on how the epic developed into modern times. A fourth volume is therefore a desideratum as well.

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