Lyric Address in Dutch Literature, 1250-1800

Cornelis van der Haven is assistant professor at Ghent University in the field of early modern Dutch literature. He studied Comparative Literature at Utrecht University and wrote a dissertation about the institutional dynamics of early modern theatre repertoires in the context of urban culture. He published widely about the history of Dutch and German theatre and literature in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a strong focus on the role of literary texts in shaping cultural and social identities. Currently, he is working on a book publication with the provisional title Enlightenment at War: Epic Poetry, the Citizen and Discursive Bridges to the Military (1740-1800).|Jürgen Pieters teaches courses on literary theory and the history of poetics at Ghent University.

• Lyric address: By way of an introduction — Cornelis van der Haven, Jürgen Pieters 1. Staying in tune with love — Anikó Daróczi Hadewijch, ‘Song 31’ (13th century) 2. O brittle infirm creature — Clara Strijbosch Anon. (Gruuthuse MS, f. 28v), ‘Song’ (ca. 1400) 3. Lyric address in sixteenth-century song — Dieuwke van der Poel Aegied Maes (?), ‘Come hear my sad complaint’ (before 1544) 4. An early-modern address to the author — Britt Grootes Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, ‘My love, my love, my love’ (1610) 5. Parrhesia and apostrophe — Marrigje Paijmans Joost van den Vondel, ‘Salutation to the Most Illustrious and Noble Prince Frederick Henry’ (1626) 6. Lyrical correspondence — Marijn van Dijk Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher, ‘To My Lord Hooft on the death of Lady van Zuilichem’ (1637) 7. The apostrophic interpellation of a son — Jürgen Pieters Jan Six van Chandelier, ‘Myn Vaaders lyk my toesprekende’ (1657) 8. Guilty pleasure — Christophe Madelein Hubert Korneliszoon Poot, ‘Thwarted Attempt of the Poet’ (1716) 9. Same-sex intimacy in 18th-century occasional poetry — Maaike Meijer Elizabeth Wolff-Bekker, ‘To Miss Agatha Deken’ (1777) 10. Nature, poetry and the address of friends — Cornelis van der Haven Jacobus Bellamy, ‘To my Friends’ (1785) Epilogue: Lyrical and theatrical apostrophe, from performing actor to textual self — Frans-Willem Korsten

A very interesting and revealing project. It not only takes up the question of lyric address as a central and often neglected topic in the study of lyric, but it also looks at a range of Dutch poems from some five centuries. For a foreigner it offers very impressive, very readable English translations of fascinating Dutch lyrics from the 13th-18th centuries. - Jonathan Culler, Professor of English, Cornell University