The Low Countries. Jaargang 8

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Publication

 

This eighth yearbook is published by the Flemish-Netherlands Foundation ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’, with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Zoetermeer) and the Flemish Ministry of Culture (Brussels).

 

The Foundation ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’ also publishes the Dutch-language periodical Ons Erfdeel and the French-language periodical Septentrion. Arts, lettres et culture de Flandre et des Pays-Bas, the bilingual yearbook De Franse Nederlanden - Les Pays-Bas Français and a series of books in several languages covering various aspects of the culture of the Low Countries.

 

The Board of Directors of ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’

 

President: Philip Houben

 

Managing Director: Jozef Deleu

 

Directors: Herman Balthazar / Jan Bosselaers / Marcel Cockaerts / Annemarie Deleu-Deblaere / Jan Desmyter / Vaast Leysen / Cecile Maeyaert-Cambien / Aad Nuis / Adriaan van der Staay / Cees van der Velden / Ludo Verhoeven / Adriaan Verhulst

 

Honorary President: Raf Renard

 

Address of the Ediforial Board and the Administration

 

‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’, Murissonstraat 260, 8930 Rekkem, Flanders, Belgium

tel. +32 56 41 12 01

fax +32 56 41 47 07

url http://www.onserfdeel.be

 

Head of Administration: Bernard Viaene

Administrative Secretary: Hans Verhaeghe

 

Aims

 

With 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 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.

 

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.

issn 0779-5815

isbn 90-75862-42-3

nugi 601

 

Copyright © 2000 ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’

Printed by Die Keure, Bruges, Flanders, Belgium

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

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The Low Countries

 

Cover: After Hieronymus Bosch, Central panel of the Triptych of the Temptation of Saint Anthony (detail). 15th century.

Panel, 131.5 × 53 cm.

Koninklijke musea voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels.

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The Low Countries

TLC 8

ARTS AND SOCIETY IN FLANDERS AND THE NETHERLANDS

Published by the

Flemish-Netherlands Foundation ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’

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Editorial Board

 

Chief Editor: Jozef Deleu

 

Deputy Editors: Luc Devoldere, Frits Niessen, Reinier Salverda

 

Secretary: Filip Matthijs

 

Members: Dirk van Assche, Anton Korteweg, Hans Vanacker

 

Design and Picture Editor: Kees Nieuwenhuijzen

 

Advisory Committee

Fred G.H. Bachrach, Twickenham, United Kingdom

E.M. Beekman, Amherst, ma, usa

André Brink, Cape Town, South Africa

James Brockway, The Hague, The Netherlands

Christopher Brown, Oxford, United Kingdom

Bram Buijze, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Patricia Carson, Ghent, Belgium

Jan Deloof, Zwevegem, Belgium

Theo D'haen, Leiden, The Netherlands

Bruce C. Donaldson, Melbourne, Australia

Charles Ford, London, United Kingdom

Amy Golahny, Williamsport, pa, usa

Jaap Harskamp, London, United Kingdom

Adrian van den Hoven, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Jonathan Israel, Princeton, nj, usa

E.H. Kossmann, Groningen, The Netherlands

Frank Ligtvoet, New York, nj, usa

Hans van Marle, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Martin Mooij, Capelle a / d IJssel, The Netherlands

Arnold J. Pomerans, Colchester, United Kingdom

Ethel Portnoy, The Hague, The Netherlands

Paul R. Sellin, Los Angeles, ca, usa

William Z. Shetter, Bloomington, in, usa

Johan P. Snapper, Berkeley, ca, usa

Kees Snoek, Strasbourg, France

Paul Vincent, London, United Kingdom

Leo Vroman, Fort Worth, tx, usa

Rudi Wester, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

John Willemse, Pretoria, South Africa

Michael J. Wintle, Hull, United Kingdom

Manfred Wolf, San Francisco, ca, usa

Joanna Woodall, London, United Kingdom

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Contents

Born to Die

11	Herman Pleij
The Medieval Way of Death
18	Carla Rosseels
From Midwife to Caesarean Confinement and Beyond in Flanders
24	Ed van Eeden
From Womb to Cradle Born, Welcomed and Nurtured in the Netherlands
29	Carla Rosseels
Death Unveiled Dead and Remembered in Flanders
34	Ed van Eeden
From Announcement to Cemetery Deceased, Buried and Mourned in the Netherlands
40	Ron Lesthaeghe
The Low Countries Growing Old The Second Demographic Transition
46	Jozef Deleu
‘Each being too is pregnant with death’ Thirteen Poems about Birth and Death
Poems by Jan Moritoen (?), Multatuli, Jan Hendrik Leopold, Willem Elsschot, J.C. Bloem, Gerrit Achterberg, M. Vasalis, Christine D'haen, Gerrit Kouwenaar, Hugo Claus, Luuk Gruwez, Esther Jansma and Menno Wigman
57	Filip Matthijs
A Slice of Death The Art of Dissection in the Low Countries
71	Marc Hooghe
Abortion and the Discrepancy between Reality and the Law

 

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75	Gita Deneckere
Off with their Heads The Death Penalty in Belgium
84	Herman Franke
‘You must see it with your own eyes!’ The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the Netherlands in 1870
93	Luc Devoldere
The Decorous Dead The Great War Revisited
101	Fred G.H. Bachrach
Conrad's Dutch Connection
108	John Leighton
A Brit Takes on Van Gogh
114	Peter Greenaway
One-Third Land and Two-Thirds Sky
120	Cees van der Geer
Fascinated by the House The Paintings of Hans Broek
126	Frans Boenders
A Rhapsody of Facades The Zurenborg District in Antwerp
135	Paul Vincent
‘I hate messages’ The Work of Willem Elsschot
Two Extracts from ‘Cheese’ by Willem Elsschot
148	Marian Unger
Jewellery in the Low Countries
159	A.L. Sötemann
‘Bravely enjoying life in the face of death’ Gerrit Kouwenaar, Poet
Five Poems by Gerrit Kouwenaar
165	Lieven van den Abeele
Everywhere a Tourist Wim Delvoye's Lively ‘Almost-Art’
171	Saskia Bak
Poetry in Print Hendrik N. Werkman, Master Printer
177	Ton J. Broos
Anne Frank's Literary Connections
190	G.F.H. Raat
The Containment of Chaos The Work of Gerard Reve
Four Extracts by Gerard Reve

 

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199	Johan de Smet
The Quest for Sparkling Light Emile Claus in a European Perspective
205	Harry van Velthoven
From Belgian Unity to Flemish-Walloon Duality The Story of Socialism in Belgium
214	Daniël Vanacker
Two Tales of a City Ghent, Tale No.1: A Mind of its Own
223	Stefan Hertmans
Two Tales of a City Ghent, Tale No. 2: Clouds - Home
231	J.P. Guépin
Tres Fratres Belgae
Brothers, Poets and Civil Servants in the Sixteenth Century
239	Jos Nijhof
Grown Up but not Full-Grown Children's Theatre in the Low Countries
245	Reinier Salverda
The Other Languages of the Netherlands
253	Anne Marie Musschoot
The Scattered ‘I’ The Ambivalent Work of Paul de Wispelaere
Extract from ‘The Charred Alphabet. Diary 1990-1991’ by Paul de Wispelaere
259	Ignace Bossuyt
‘The Orpheus of Amsterdam’ The Life and Work of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

 

Chronicle

 

Architecture

263	Hans Ibelings
Autonomous Building Architecture according to Erick van Egeraat

 

Cultural Policy

264	Jaap Harskamp
Building Collections The Low Countries in the British Library
266	Armand Sliepen
The ‘Best of Flanders and the Netherlands’ BVN-TV

 

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Film and Theatre

267	Jos Nijhof
An Ode to Transience Terschellings Oerol
269	Erik Martens
Making Films for Mao and Stalin? Joris Ivens and the Documentary Context
270	Bert Hogenkamp
The Taboos of the Documentary Film The Work of Henri Storck
272	Paul Demets
Theatre on the Edge Jan Lauwers' Needcompany

 

History

274	Greet Verschatse
Truth or Legend? Thomas Becket in Flanders
275	G.J. Schutte
From Boer War to South African War
277	Sophie de Schaepdrijver
Belgium as a Symbol in First World War Propaganda

 

Language

279	Lucas Ligtenberg
A Secret Language Traces of Dutch in the United States

 

Literature

280	Yann Lovelock
Siting the Singer Gezelle in Translation and Translating Gezelle
282	Rita Ingram Givens
Survivals and Escapes on a Grander Scale Anna Enquist's ‘The Masterpiece’
283	Jan Franken
The English Reynard
285	Hanneke Klinkert-Koopmans
How Can You Capture an Elusive Reality? The Poetry of Eva Gerlach

 

Music

287	Wim Chielens
Folk-Songs: Long before the eu
288	Jeroen de Valk
Beyond the Cluttered Years The Dutch Jazz Archives
290	Yves Knockaert
Aspiring to Universality The Music of Dirk Brossé

 

Philosophy and Science

291	Dirk van Delft
Last Nobel Prize for Physics of the 1900s to Dutchmen Veltman and 't Hooft
292	Ewald Pironet
‘Leuven Valley’ IMEC and the Latest Technology in Flanders
293	Jonathan Israel
Two Spinoza Biographies
296	Reinier Salverda
The Pliny of the Indies Georg Rumphius and his ‘Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet’

 

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Society

298	Derek Blyth
From Saint Arnold to Burp Castle Beer in Flanders
299	Peter Riemersma
The End of a Strange Tale The Lifting of the Ban on Brothels in the Netherlands

 

Visual Arts

300	Roelof van Gelder
A Good Rembrandt Year
302	Joost de Geest
Between Emotion, Devotion and Polemic The Art of Rogier van der Weyden

 

●

304	Filip Matthijs
Short Takes
310	Bibliography of Dutch-Language Publications translated into English (traced in 1999)
318	Contributors
319	Translators