The famous Dutch historian Johan Huizinga once described the Netherlands as a transit port, both in a literal as well as in an intellectual sense. Neighboring cultures from England, France and Germany met and were connected in the Netherlands. This has led to a cosmopolitan and outward looking literary tradition, which produced great writers such as the romantic Multatuli in the late nineteenth century, the naturalist Louis Couperus at the fin de siècle, and, more recently, rather postmodern authors such as Harry Mulisch and Cees Nooteboom, who also appeal to an international audience. Somewhat lesser known abroad are Willem Frederik Hermans and Gerard Reve. Yet, precisely these two writers are considered to be the most influential authors in modern Dutch literature. This chapter takes their work as a starting point for reflecting on some essential developments of Dutch culture.

Modernist Friends

Early in their careers, Willem Frederik Hermans (1921-1995) and Gerard Reve (1923-2006) maintained a rather ambiguous friendship. In the 1950s, Hermans relentlessly criticized his literary colleagues in merciless polemical writings; the only writer he spared was Reve. “You are the only real literary talent I met in all these years among my acquaintances, and that's enough, whatever may be your faults and errors,” he wrote to Reve. Conversely, when Hermans was prosecuted because of his controversial novel Ik heb altijd gelijk (I Am Always Right, 1951), Reve was willing to hide the complete stock of this novel in his attic (“under a tarpaulin”), although he was not even rewarded a free copy for this noble deed. Their friendship was seriously compromised later on, when Reve professed to the Catholic Church and Hermans – whose worldview was strongly inspired by the natural sciences – could view Reve as nothing but a buffoon. Later still, when Reve was himself indicted because of his theological idiosyncrasies, it would have been unimaginable to Hermans to hide Reve's writings in his attic. Yet, because of their literary affinity and their continuous clashes with the Dutch establishment, both authors represent an excellent point of departure to characterize Dutch literature in the nineteenth and twentieth century in more general terms.