On the Absence of Nature: Writing on Nature and Ecocriticism in the Netherlands

Authors

  • Isabel Hoving University of Leiden, Netherlands

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2010.1.1.336

Keywords:

Dutch literature, absence of nature, Dutch ecocriticism, Frederik van Eeden, Ton Lemaire, dwelling, tourism, sublime, materiality, multicultural landscape.

Abstract

Key words: Dutch literature, absence of nature, Dutch ecocriticism, Frederik van Eeden, Ton Lemaire, dwelling, tourism, sublime, materiality, multicultural landscape. 

The traditional Dutch self-understanding is one of a nation of sober, pragmatic city-dwellers, indifferent towards Romantic nature. Their very landscapes have been seen to reflect an absence of ‘nature’. Yet a body of writing worthy of study can be found, in literature, theory and journalistic writing on Dutch landscapes, plants and animals. Pastoralism has dominated historically – promoting a bleak sense that nature has virtually been destroyed in the Netherlands. Recent interventions have included efforts to reinscribe cultural and historical meaning into the landscape, a renewed interest in life’s materiality, and the evocation of nature by immigrant writers as an indomitable site of vitality.

 

Palabras clave: literatura holandesa, ausencia de naturaleza, ecocritica holandesa, Frederik van Eeden, Ton Lemaire, hogar, turismo, sublime, materialidad, paisaje multicultural.

 

La imagen tradicional que los holeadandeses tienen de sí mismos es la de una nación de urbanitas sobrios y pragmáticos, indiferentes hacia la naturaleza romántica. Se ha visto en sus propios paisajes un reflejo de la ausencia de “naturaleza”. Pero puede encontrarse un conjunto de obras que merecen ser estudiadas, obras literarias, teóricas y periodísticas sobre paisajes holeadandeses, así como sobre plantas y animales. Lo pastoral ha dominado históricamente,  promoviendo un sentido sombrío de que en los Países Bajos la naturaleza ha sido virtualmente destruida. Intervenciones recientes han incluido esfuerzos por volver a inscribir significado cultural e histórico al paisaje, un interés renovado en la materialidad de la vida, y cómo los escritores inmigrantes evocan la naturaleza como lugar indómito de vitalidad.

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Author Biography

Isabel Hoving, University of Leiden, Netherlands

Associate professor Department General, Comparative and Intercultural Literature; interculturality, cultural analysis, gender and sexuality, ecocriticism.

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Issue

Section

Towards a European and Transnational Ecocriticism