Title Affiliations Abstract "The Measure of Middle Dutch: Rhythm and Prosody Reconstruction for Middle Dutch Literature, A Data-Driven Approach." "Institute for the Study of Literature in the Low Countries (ISLN)" "What does it mean when the rhythm of a literary text is called 'snappy' or 'fluid'? And what are the characteristics of literature that is 'easily engraved on one's mind'? The rhythmical qualities of literature are often described on an intuitive basis, while using vague terms. This is especially true for Middle Dutch literature. The many rhymed texts of our literary history's earliest stages frequently receive labels like these. However, it is often unclear what is actually meant by them. With this research, it is my ambition to provide the highly necessary scientific backing to these intuitive – and therefore potentially biased – statements. Contrary to previous research, I will make use of computational techniques to investigate the rhythmical qualities of Middle Dutch literature. Because these techniques are unprejudiced, subjectivity can be ruled out. As a result, we will achieve a precise and understandable notion of the rhythmicities of literary texts. For the first time ever, we will be able to pinpoint precisely the reasons for certain intuitive observations. Also, by not restricting ourselves to the analysis of individual texts, we will compare the rhythms present in different genres of literature. Without losing ourselves in a jungle of vague impressions, we will therefore be able to put our finger on, for example, the rhythmical differences between the famous texts 'Van den vos Reynaerde' and 'Karel ende Elegast'." "Cultural policy, international publishers and the circulation of Dutch literature in translation" "Jack Mc Martin" "Translation and Intercultural Transfer, Antwerp Campus" "This project seeks to offer new insight into how literature from Flanders and the Netherlands finds its way to international publishers. It focuses particular attention on the two most important target markets for Dutch literature in translation: the German-language market and the English-language market. Previous exploratory research by the promoter of this project has shown that the national funding agencies that formulate and deploy the cultural policy of Flanders and the Netherlands as it relates to literature can have a decisive role in the international circulation of Dutch literature. However, little research is available about the actual influence that outward-facing cultural policies related to literature have on the editorial policy and the selection, production and publication practices of international publishers. Drawing on a selection of case studies of recently published book translations out of Dutch, this project aims to fill this gap and, in doing so, to provide a model that can be used for similar studies elsewhere in the European cultural field." "Cultural policy, international publishers and the circulation of Dutch literature in translation" "Jack Mc Martin" "Translation and Intercultural Transfer, Antwerp Campus" "This project seeks to offer new insight into how literature from Flanders and the Netherlands finds its way to international publishers. It focuses particular attention on the two most important target markets for Dutch literature in translation: the German-language market and the English-language market. Previous exploratory research by the promoter of this project has shown that the national funding agencies that formulate and deploy the cultural policy of Flanders and the Netherlands as it relates to literature can have a decisive role in the international circulation of Dutch literature. However, little research is available about the actual influence that outward-facing cultural policies related to literature have on the editorial policy and the selection, production and publication practices of international publishers. Drawing on a selection of case studies of recently published book translations out of Dutch, this project aims to fill this gap and, in doing so, to provide a model that can be used for similar studies elsewhere in the European cultural field." "Literature and Pornography: a textual and contextual study of Dutch novels in the 1960s and 1970s." "Bart Vervaeck" "Dutch Literature, Leuven" "The interaction between pornography and modern fiction has rarely been examined in Dutch literary studies. The present proposal seeks to remedy this by focusing on a corpus of pornographic novels from the 60s and 70s written by renowned authors (Ferron, Geeraerts, Heeresma en Krijgelmans) who represent different forms of literature. The aim is twofold: (1) to contextualize these pornographic texts and determine their institutional position in the cultural and literary field, and (2) to determine, through cultural narratology, whether the pornographic novels by Ferron, Geeraerts, Heeresma and Krijgelmans confirm or transcend textual and ideological stereotypes and scripts. In doing so, an integrated narrotology will be developed, enabling the analysis of narratives in the margins of the literary field. More generally, the project shows the intrinsic (textual/narrative) and extrinsic (cultural/ideological) aspects of beliefs and views on the difference between literature and non-literature." "The French and Brabantine Rose: learning and critical sense in Middle Dutch secular literature" "Anne Reynders" "Translation and Intercultural Transfer, Antwerp Campus, Dutch Literature, Leuven" "The Roman de la Rose (ca 1285) is one of the most influential texts of the French Middle Ages. Before 1325 Heinric van Brussel translated and adapted this work into Middle Dutch. This project examines how this Brabantine adaptation, Die Rose, relates to its French source text. The Roman de la Rose is a complex allegory and an erudite work, which, by its content as well as its structure, strongly encourages critical reflection. The way in which Heinric adapted his source text will show how much learning, interpreting ability and critical sense he assumed in his audience. The study of the manuscript tradition of Die Rose will provide information about the reception of Die Rose in 14th and 15th century Middle Dutch literature. This will lead to a better understanding of the intellectual emancipation books in the vernacular could offer to lay people in the medieval Low Countries." "Eastbound: The circulation and reception of translations of Dutch literature in the German language area, 1850 - 1990" "Elke Brems" "Translation Studies Research Unit, Antwerp Campuses, Translation and Intercultural Transfer, Brussels Campus" "Eastbound aims to give insight into the complex mechanism of bringing literature into circulation in a transnational context. In a first step the project investigates the translation flows of literature from the Netherlands and Flanders to the German language area between 1850 and 1990 from a macro perspective based on bibliographic data. This gives i. a. insights into which authors were translated, when and by whom. Based on this initial analysis it investigates the translation and adaptation history of two frequently translated oeuvres from Flemish and Dutch literature into German: On the one hand the canonized Flemish writer Felix Timmermans and the forgotten Dutch writer Suze la Chapelle-Roobol. Roobol wrote the fourth part of the initially German Trotzkopf series that is part of the German canon of children's literature. The case study traces the mechanisms that made it possible for a translation from a minor language to become part of an original series in a dominant language such as German and touches upon the specificities of children's literature. The case study on Felix Timmermans focuses on the hitherto unexplored post-war reception of Felix Timmermans in Germany. Inspired by Aleida Assmann's functional analysis of text types, a shift in his reception from well-known international author to a writer who is largely unknown but whose work continues to circulate in the German language area as part of Christian folklore was noted, influenced also by the numerous audio plays created based on his novellas. " "Classics in the Classroom. Dutch canonical literature in upper-secondary education in Flanders and The Netherlands" "Lieke van Deinsen" "Dutch Literature, Leuven, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen" "From ‘Know your classics!’ to ‘Fuck the canon!’: the literary canon has long been fiercely debated in Flanders and the Netherlands, both in the public press and in academia. Spurred by upcoming curricular reforms, the discussion has recently come to focus on the place of Dutch-language classics in secondary education. Although there seems to be a strong believe in the necessity of teaching the classics, there is little agreement on the most suitable didactics, nor on the amount of time teachers should allocate to them. Such discussions quickly degenerate into a polemic of personal opinions due to the lack of systematic large-scale insights into educational practices, especially with regard to Flanders. This project fills this urgent lacuna by obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which literary-historical texts from the Dutch language area are used, interpreted, and evaluated in contemporary secondary education, innovatively including (a) concrete pedagogies and text selections in the (culturally diverse) literature classroom, (b) values and aims of teachers, and (c) perceptions of students. By studying both Flanders and the Netherlands, this project aims to shed light on the hitherto understudied geographical differences. By closely collaborating with key educational organizations, actively sparking a dialogue between academia and schools, this project will provide an important contribution to the current canon debates and educational policies." "Telling Lists: A Dynamic Study of the Nature and Function of Lists in Dutch Literature" "Bart Vervaeck" "Dutch Literature, Leuven" "This project has a two-fold objective. First, it wants to come up with a hermeneutic tool to interpret lists found in modern novels, i.e. is novels written from the second half of the nineteenth century up till now. Second, it wants to use this tool to trace the development of literary listing from the first modern Dutch novel (Multatuli’s Max Havelaar 1860) to the present day (Grunberg 2010).Though the first objective is practical and methodological rather than theoretical, it can only be obtained if it starts from a clear delineation of the topic under discussion, viz. the list. This delineation does not involve setting up an exhaustive classification of lists and its relations with archives, taxonomies, catalogues, and so on. The attempts in that direction (e.g. Mainberger 2003, 37-118; Eco 2009, 278-398; Goody 1977, 84-103) not only yield diverging results, but tend to become blurred in their usage. The project wants to look at the ways lists function, not at the ways in which they can be classified. Still, a practical definition of a list is needed and can only be found by scrutinizing the definitions in the studies on the topic.Once the list has been defined, I aim to clarify its form and content. As to form, lists can be horizontal – typically as part of an enumerative description – or vertical. At their most general, lists“are frameworks that hold separate and disparate items together” (Belknap 2004, 2). The combination of unity and discontinuity is the first central characteristic of the list (Jullien 1990). It resonates in many comparable tensions (Veel 2009, 18-23). After the form and content of lists has been dealt with, we want to clarify the list’s function in the narrative that surrounds it. We will only decide on the precise nature of that function after the analysis of the literary texts. The aim of the analysis of various existing theories is to develop a toolbox that can be used in the interpretation of lists in novels. Existing studies not only draw attention to crucial and dual characteristics of lists such as order v. chaos and text v. object, but also provide worthwhile insights in the ways lists function in a narrative text, e.g. as advancing and/ or obstructing the story. These dualisms – or rather: gliding scales – will prove useful in developing a model of reading literary lists.The second objective is to be found in the implementation of this reading model by analyzing a dozen Dutch novels from 1860 until 2010. This is not meant to produce an alternative literary history, but, more modestly, (1) to test the applicability and flexibility of the model for various literary periods, and (2) to indicate some aspects of the evolution of lists in the novel. The twelve novels that have been selected all contain lists – as any novel will – and can be linked with the various traditional literary phases typically used in historiography, such as naturalism and avantgarde. However, they are not meant to cover all historical movements and submovemens, nor are they particularly iconic of a movement.This dynamic study of novelistic listing will show that the development of ‘fiction’ (the novel) is closely tied with the evolution of the ‘facts’ or knowledge structures contained within the novel, which is precisely what this project is all about.In general, the methodology consists of delineating the lists and the novels, close reading the lists and their functions in the novels, and finally developing a historical comparison." "Dutch Experimental Realism of the 1960s - Reading Documentary Literature through Autobiographical Genres" "Hans Vandevoorde" "Ghent University, Language and literature" "This project aims to give an overview of the Dutch documentary literature of the 1960s. During this period various authors introduced reality in their work in a non-traditional way, pursuing an experimental realism. In order to approach this subject matter in a way that will contribute to both the understanding of Dutch literary history and documentary literature on an international level, I will study how readers are able to understand the 1960s texts as 'documentary'. Two rhetorical effects that are also important for autobiographies support this way of reading: credibility and veracity. In my research I will focus on the genres in the text that evoke these effects, acknowledging the multiform nature of documentary literature. Documentary texts frequently display a contradictory repertory of signals. The characteristic documentary techniques are verbatim reproduction of external texts, interviews and reportage, which provide the text with a connotation of objectivity. But documentary texts also make use of fictionalising techniques, e.g. consciousness representation and focalisation, to evoke credibility and veracity. All these techniques bear references to certain genres in them. I will examine the specificity of the Dutch documentary literature in the 1960s, by analysing which fictional and non-fictional genres are referred to, in which ways, and how they are interrelated, specifically in comparison to autobiography." "Constrained. A Comparative Study of the Influence of Form on the Material Transmission of Middle Dutch Literature." "Institute for the Study of Literature in the Low Countries (ISLN)" "Recent international research increasingly focuses on the spread and survival of medieval literature. During the Middle Ages, the material transmission of texts depended entirely on the manual transcription of literature, granting texts a fluid character. This project will investigate which coping mechanisms helped to guarantee the sustainable exchange of information in textual cultures that are characterized by unstable transmission modes. An important aspect of the survival of literature that deserves further empirical research is the text form. To examine whether formal aspects can be labelled as 'constraints' that limit changes, the complete transmission of two short 13th-century Middle Dutch texts will be compared in a digitally supported way, namely: the Martijn trilogy of the Flemish poet Jacob van Maerlant, and Dietsche Catoen, a translation of the Latin Distichs of Cato. The results will be controlled with a control corpus, namely Maerlant's voluminous Scolastica (1271). Because the texts differ significantly in terms of formal characteristics, this project wants to examine whether and which formal aspects of a text (such as rhyme and text structure) can be considered as 'coping mechanisms' in the transmission. It can be expected, for instance, that the Martijn trilogy, which is built according to complex rhyme schemes, shows less variation in the transmission than Dietsche Catoen, in which the only formal requirements are the four-line stanzas and the paired rhyme."