Welcome to Dutch poetry - June 2004

 

 

Welcome to the Dutch homepage, which introduces a considerable part of the ‘rainforest-like richness of Dutch poetry’, as the modern Dutch poet Tonnus Oosterhoff describes the state of contemporary poetry in the Netherlands. Apart from poetry-related news, helpful literary links and information on some interesting Dutch poetry organizations, we proudly present what matters most here: poets and poems.

Over thirty contemporary Dutch poets, mainly from the Netherlands, but also from Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium) and Surinam, are present at this stage, and we’ll continually work on making this number grow. For impressive as it may seem, it is not yet enough to give a true picture of the health, wealth and diversity so characteristic of Dutch poetry today.

Many consider the last quarter of the nineteenth century the starting point of modern poetry in the Netherlands, with a group of poets called De Beweging van Tachtig (The Movement of Eighty) centred around the literary magazine De Nieuwe Gids (The New Guide). Others argue that modern poetry really started a few decades later with poets like Hendrik Marsman, J.J. Slauerhoff and the Flemish Paul van Ostaijen, each finding their individual form and style, incorporating the influence of international Expressionism. Either way, the twentieth century brought us a wide range of modern poetry icons, such as Martinus Nijhoff, Gerrit Achterberg, Lucebert, Hugo Claus (born in Brugge, Belgium), Hans Faverey (born in Paramaribo, Surinam) and Gerrit Kouwenaar.

Of these icons, Claus and Kouwenaar are still alive and writing new poems, thus contributing to the splendour of contemporary Dutch poetry. You’ll find their names on the list to your right, alongside many other interesting contemporary poets, all born between 1918 (‘grand old man’ Leo Vroman) and 1979 (rap poet Sieger M. Geerstma, who published his official debut Straatvluchter in 2002).

In our June issue we draw your attention to the poetry of Tonnus Oosterhoff. After three previous editions (Gerrit Kouwenaar, Arjen Duinker and Rutger Kopland), this is the fourth time we profile one of our poets more extensively, this time adding a world premiere: the English translations of two of Oosterhoff’s intriguing ‘Bewegende gedichten’ (Poems in Motion).

© Thomas Möhlmann  
 
 

 
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