“The world is in Amsterdam”: Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Dutch in Guinevere Glasfurd’s The Words in My Hand
Keywords:
historical novel, British literature, imagology, the Netherlands, stereotypes, national characterAbstract
The article presents an imagological study of the recent historical novel The Words in My Hand (2016) by British author Guinevere Glasfurd with the focus on how the Dutch and the 17th century Netherlands are portrayed in the novel, especially regarding the use of stereotypes. After offering an introduction into how the Dutch were perceived by the English in the 17th century, the article goes on to argue that Glasfurd makes use of both historical and contemporary stereotypes in order to highlight the personal traits of the characters and create sympathies and antipathies in the reader. To do so, she not only employs stereotypes about the Dutch and their country, but frequently uses France as its superior counterpart. Thusly, she contributes to a larger discourse of literature which relies on the use of national stereotypes and perceives the nation and national character as perceptible actuality rather than a changing social concept.
References
Aglionby, William. The Present State of the United Provinces of the Low-Countries as to the Government, Laws, Forces, Riches, Manners, Customes, Revenue, and Territory of the Dutch in Three Books: Collected by W.A., Fellow of the Royal Society. London: John Starkey, 1669; Early English Books Text Creation Partnership.
Bachrach, Fred G. H. “The Low Countries Through British Eyes in Ages Past.” The Low Countries 5, no. 1 (1991): 61–72.
Beller, Manfred and Joep Leerssen. Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007.
Bense, Johan Frederik. The Anglo-Dutch Relations from the Earliest Times to the Death of William the Third: An Historical Introduction to a Dictionary of the Low-Dutch Element in the English Vocabulary. Springer Netherlands, 1924.
Besamusca, Emmeline, and Jaap Verheul. “Introduction.” In Discovering the Dutch: On Culture and Society of the Netherlands, edited by E Emmeline Besamusca and Jaap Verheul, 11–16. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010.
Billig, Michael. Banal Nationalism. London: SAGE Publications, 1995.
Butler, Samuel. The Poetical Works of Samuel Butler, 2 vols. London: William Pickering, 1835.
Caimotto, Maria Cristina. “Images of Turmoil. Italy Portrayed in Britain and Re-mirrored in Italy.” In Interconnecting Translation Studies and Imagology, edited by L. Van Doorslaer, P. Flynn and J. Leerssen, 239–256. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2016.
Chew, William L. “What’s in a National Stereotype?: An Introduction to Imagology at the Threshold of the 21st Century.” Language and Intercultural Communication 6, nos. 3–4 (2006): 179–187.
Coryat, Thomas. Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobbled Up in Five Moneths Travells in France, Savoy, Italy (…) and the Netherlands. London, 1611.
Crenshaw, Paul. Rembrandt’s Bankruptcy: The Artist, His Patrons, and the Art Market in Seventeenthcentury Netherlands. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006.
Dyserinck, Hugo. “Imagology and the Problem of Ethnic Identity.” Intercultural Studies 1, no. 1 (2003): 1–8.
Feltham, Owen. A Brief Character of the Low-Countries. London: Seile, 1652.
Fruin, Robert. “De Nederlanders der Zeventiende Eeuw door Engelschen Geschetst.” In De Tijd van De Witt en Willem III, Martinus Nijhoff, 1929: 1–19.
Glasfurd, Guinevere. The Words in My Hand: A Novel of 17th Century Amsterdam and a Woman Hidden from History. London: Two Roads, 2016.
Glasfurd, Guinevere. “Now and Then.” Guinevere Glasfurd, August 28, 2019. Available at: <https://guinevereglasfurd.com/2016/11/28/now-and-then/>.
Guyard, Marius-Francois. “L’etranger tel qu’on le voit.” La littérature comparée (1951): 110–119. Available at: <https://imagologica.eu/CMS/upload/guyard.pdf>.
Hoenselaars, Ton. “Europe Staged in English Renaissance Drama.” Yearbook of European Studies 6, no. 1 (1993): 85–112.
Hsia, Ronnie Po-Chia. “Introduction.” In Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age, edited by R. Po-Chia Hsia and H. van Nierop, 1–7. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.
Huizinga, Johan. “Engelschen en Nederlanders in Shakespeare’s Tijd.” De Gids 88, no. 1 (1924): 219–235, DBNL. Available at: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/huiz003verz03_01/huiz003verz03_01_0020.php#754>.
Kieft, Ghislain and Quirine van der Steen. “The Making of Rembrandt and Van Gogh.” In Discovering the Dutch: On Culture and Society of the Netherlands, edited by E. Besamusca and J. Verheul, 149–160. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010.
Marvell, Andrew. “The Character of Holland,” Poetry Foundation. Accessed December 14, 2020. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44678/the-character-of-holland>.
Mavor, Elizabeth, ed. The Grand Tour of William Beckford. London: Penguin Books, 1986.
Mout, M.E.H.N. “Spiritualisten in de Nederlandse Reformatie van de zestiende Eeuw.” Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 111, no. 3 (1996): 297–313.
Murray, John. A Hand-book for Travellers on the Continent: Being a Guide to Holland, Belgium, Prussia, Northern Germany, and the Rhine from Holland to Switzerland. London: John Murray & Son, 1836.
Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum: The Theatre of the Whole World. London: John Norton and John Bill, 1606.
Prak, Maarten. “The Golden Age.” In Discovering the Dutch: On Culture and Society of the Netherlands, edited by Emmeline Besamusca and Jaap Verheul, 97–107. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010.
Price, J. L. Dutch Culture in the Golden Age. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.
Rubright, Marjorie. Doppelgänger Dilemmas: Anglo-Dutch Relations in Early Modern English Literature and Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
Sluijter, Eric Jan. Rembrandt and the Female Nude. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2006.
Temple, William. The Works of Sir William Temple, Bart. To Which is Prefixed the Life and Character of Sir William Temple Written by a Particular Friend. London, 1750.
Van Ginkel, Rob. “Foreigners’ Views of the Dutch: Past and Present.” Dutch Crossing: A Journal of Low Countries Studies 20, no. 1 (1996): 117–131.
Verheul, Jaap. “In Foreign Eyes.” In Discovering the Dutch: On Culture and Society of the Netherlands, edited by Emmeline Besamusca and Jaap Verheul, 267–277. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2010.
