Foreword
‘The triumph of culture is to overpower nationality’
Ralph Waldo Emerson
With this new yearbook, The Low Countries, the editors and publisher aim to present to the English-speaking world the culture and society of the Dutch-speaking area which embraces both the Kingdom of the Netherlands and also Flanders, the northern part of the Kingdom of Belgium.
The articles in this yearbook, by British and American, Dutch and Flemish contributors, survey the living, contemporary culture of the Low Countries as well as their cultural heritage.
In its words and pictures The Low Countries provides information about literature and the arts, but also about broad social and historical developments in Flanders and the Netherlands.
The culture of Flanders and the Netherlands is not an isolated phenomenon; its development over the centuries has been one of continuous interaction with the outside world. In consequence the yearbook also pays due attention to the centuries-old continuing cultural interplay between the Low Countries and the world beyond their borders.
In a world which is growing ever smaller and becoming more and more interdependent, international, even supranational in character, we regard Ralph Waldo Emerson's statement as a call for independent cultures to look beyond their national frontiers.
By drawing attention to the diversity, vitality and international dimension of the culture of Flanders and the Netherlands, The Low Countries hopes to contribute to a lively dialogue between differing cultures.
Jozef Deleu
Chief Editor / Managing Director
Flemish-Netherlands Foundation ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd