ABOUT THIS BOOKLyric Address in Dutch Literature, 1250-1800 provides accessible and comprehensive readings of ten Dutch lyrical poems, discussing each poem's historical context, revealing its political or ideological framing, religious elements, or the self-representational interests of the poet. The book focuses on how the use of the speaker's "I" creates distance or proximity to the social context of the time. Close, detailed analysis of rhetorical techniques, such as the use of the apostrophe, illuminates the ways in which poetry reveals tensions in society.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYCornelis van der Haven is assistant professor at Ghent University in the field of early modern Dutch literature. He studied Comparative Literature at Utrecht University and wrote a dissertation about the institutional dynamics of early modern theatre repertoires in the context of urban culture. He published widely about the history of Dutch and German theatre and literature in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a strong focus on the role of literary texts in shaping cultural and social identities. Currently, he is working on a book publication with the provisional title "Enlightenment at War": Epic Poetry, the Citizen and Discursive Bridges to the Military (1740-1800).Jürgen Pieters teaches courses on literary theory and the history of poetics at Ghent University.