The Low Countries. Jaargang 11

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Publication

 

This eleventh 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: Herman Balthazar

 

Managing Director: Luc Devoldere

 

Directors: Greetje van den Bergh / Jan Bosselaers / Marcel Cockaerts / Jan Desmyter / Bert de Graeve / Vaast Leysen / Cecile Maeyaert-Cambien / Aad Nuis / Frits van Oostrom / Adriaan van der Staay / Cees van der Velden / Ludo Verhoeven

 

Honorary President: Philip Houben

 

Address of the Editorial 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 Secretaries: Adinda Houttekier / Hans Verhaeghe

 

Aims

 

With The Low Countries, a yearbook founded by Jozef Deleu, 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 90-75862-66-0

nur 600

 

Copyright © 2003 ‘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

 

Mist on the North Sea Beach, 1955. Photo by Ad Windig / mai, Amsterdam

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TLC 11

The Low Countries

ARTS AND SOCIETY IN FLANDERS AND THE NETHERLANDS

2003

Published by the

Flemish-Netherlands Foundation ‘Stichting Ons Erfdeel’

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Editorial Board

 

Chief Editor: Luc Devoldere

 

Deputy Editors: Dirk van Assche, Frits Niessen, Reinier Salverda

 

Secretary: Filip Matthijs

 

Members: Anton Korteweg, Bart van der Straeten 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

Christopher Brown, Oxford, United Kingdom

Bram Buijze, The Hague, The Netherlands

Patricia Carson, Ghent, Belgium

Jan Deloof, Zwevegem, Belgium

Theo D'haen, Leuven, Belgium

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, ny, usa

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, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Paul Vincent, London, United Kingdom

Leo Vroman, Fort Worth, tx, usa

Rudi Wester, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

John Willemse, Pretoria, South Africa

Michael J. Wintle, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Manfred Wolf, San Francisco, ca, usa

Joanna Woodall, London, United Kingdom

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Contents

Always the Same H2O
11	Foreword
12	Herman Pleij
God's Subcontractors The Dutch and Water
22	Luc Devoldere
Excerpts from a Log Book on the Scheldt and Maas
38	Kees Snoek
Dordrecht, City of Living Water
47	Guido Burggraeve
Nature between Ebb and Flood The Zwin: from Sea-Inlet to Nature Reserve
54	Boudewijn Bakker
A New Atlantis The Geometric Ideal and Amsterdam's Ring of Canals
65	Daniël Depenbrock
Opposites Attract Living on the Water
71	Piet Boyens
How to Paint Water The Leie as a Stream of Inspiration
78	Peter Karstkarel
Valour on Ice The Elfstedentocht in Friesland
84	Jozef Deleu
Solid and Volatile Twelve Poems
Poems by J. Bernlef, Martinus Nijhoff, Hendrik Marsman, Richard Minne, Anna Enquist, J.A. dèr Mouw, Willem de Mérode, Roland Jooris, Lucebert, Adriaan Morriën, Paul van Ostaijen and Erik Spinoy.

 

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91	Leonard Blussé
Sailing along the Wagenspoor On the Sea-Road with the Dutch East India Company
101	Anne Provoost / Jeroen Brouwers
Stormy Weather Anne Provoost's Ark and Jeroen Brouwers' Houseboat
107	Filip Matthijs
Close the Sluices! So you think we've told you everything about the Low Countries and Water?
116	Jan Wauters
Footballs, Bikes and Heroes Johan Cruijff and Eddy Merckx
124	Reinier Salverda
English = Dutch A Dossier of Compelling Evidence
134	Annemie Leysen
Joke van Leeuwen's Light-Hearted Anarchy
A Poem and an Extract by Joke van Leeuwen
140	Jos Nijhof
Enough of Laughter? The Unbridled Expansion of Dutch Cabaret
Extracts by Freek de Jonge, Youp van 't Hek, Hans Teeuwen & Ronald Smeenk and Wim de Bie
151	Bernard Dewulf
Paint as Mercurochrome On Vincent Geyskens
160	Pieter Leroy
Airports and the Environmental Burden of a National Status Symbol
168	Tineke Reijnders
Escapist Survivalism From AVL to AVL-Ville and Back Again
176	Jos Borré
Tom Lanoye, Literary Multinational
Two Extracts by Tom Lanoye
184	G.J. Schutte
An On-Off Affair Three Hundred and Fifty Years of Dutch-South African Relations
193	Marc Hooghe
From Dreams to Deeds Greens in the Belgian Government: the First Four Years
198	P.C. Emmer
Gain versus Godliness The Dutch Slave Trade

 

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207	Koen Vergeer
A Perpetual Masquerade The Work of Gerrit Komrij
Four Poems and an Extract by Gerrit Komrij
216	Marco Daane
Richard Minne, Poetry's Freedom Fighter
Eight Poems by Richard Minne
224	J.P. Guépin
Trilingualism in the Low Countries Latin for the clergy and the academics, French for the upper classes and the Huguenots, and Dutch for everyone else
230	Hans Ibelings
Lumpen Elegance The Sculptural Mathematics of Neutelings Riedijk Architects
235	Gary Schwartz
Behind the Icon Curtain Dutch and Flemish Art in Central and Eastern Europe
251	Mark Delaere
Philippe Herrewege, a Versatile Musical Shrink
254	Kamiel D'Hooghe
About Flute Stops, Reeds, and Much More Organs in the Low Countries

 

Chronicle

Architecture
266	Hans Ibelings
Pork Chops from the Sky High-Rise Pig Farming from the Architects of MVRDV
267	Kristiaan Borret
The Right Distance The Architecture of M. José van Hee
Cultural Policy
269	Marie Christine van der Sman
A Dutch Collection in Dublin The Fagel Library at Trinity College
271	Ludo Meyvis
The Irish College in Leuven
272	Friederike de Raat
Showcase on the Rapenburg Leiden's Bibliotheca Thysiana

 

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Film and Theatre
274	Jozef de Vos
What's on an Old Man's Mind? Luc Perceval's ‘King Lear’
276	Isabella Lanz
Drama and Pure Dance The Choreographic Quest of Ed Wubbe
278	Erik Martens
Choosing is Losing Dominique Deruddere: Twixt Turnhout and LA
History
280	Anton Claessens
A Night of Disaster in the South-West Netherlands 1 February 1953
281	Dirk van Assche
Tyndale's Testament
283	W.J. van Bekkum
Dutch Jewry
Language
284	Greetje van den Bergh
The Future of Dutch as a Language of Science
Literature
286	Wam de Moor
Loss, Longing and Lamentation The Work of Oscar van den Boogaard
287	Reinier Salverda
A Sailor's Grave for Captain Jan Dutch and American Writer Jan de Hartog
Music
289	Bart van der Straeten
A Sound Spectacular? Hooverphonic's Musical Adventure
290	Ernst Vermeulen
Weightless Music The Work of Simeon ten Holt
Philosophy and Science
291	Luc Devoldere
Be Glad that Life has no Meaning On the Essays of Jaap van Heerden
293	Kim Herbots
Trailblazers in pgd Twenty Years of Genetic Medicine at the University of Brussels
294	K. van Berkel
A Wider Perception of ‘Science’
Society
295	Willem Breedveld
The Netherlands and the Tragedy of Srebrenica
297	Jos Bouveroux
The Vlaams Blok
299	Rutger van Santen
An Annus Horribilis for Dutch Politics
Visual Arts
301	Filip Matthijs
Fashion for the People MoMu: Antwerp's New Fashion Museum
303	Marc Ruyters
Honoré δὈ: Playing Marbles with Art

 

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●
306	Filip Matthijs
Short Takes
313	Bibliography of selected Dutch-Language
Publications translated into English (traced November 22, 2001 - November 21, 2002)
318	Contributors
319	Translators