Why is there no significant Dutch literature?

[Anonymous No.14886931]

The Netherlands has been a prosperous, well-educated country for quite a while now but, as far as I can tell, has managed to avoid making a single significant contribution to world literature. Pretty much all of the surrounding countries have managed to produce at least a couple of great writers, and the number of great Dutch painters shows that they're not completely devoid of artistic spirit but, for what it's worth, there is not one work of Dutch literature in Bloom's Western Canon list (unless you consider Erasmus Dutch). Why is this? When you consider the relatively large contributions made by smaller, historically weaker nations like Ireland and Norway it really seems inexplicable.

[Anonymous No.14886944]

>>14886931
They were too busy inventing the stock market and sealing the doom of Western Europe.
Dutch people are the Jews of Europe.

[Anonymous No.14886951]

Heard from a friend that all Dutch literature is written by Amsterdammites, and they are incredibly self-obsessed. Dutch literature only speaks to the Dutch, or rather it only speaks to Amsterdammites

[Anonymous No.14886954]

>>14886931

Gerard Reeve you plebs. The Evenings is one of the coziest books ever.

[Anonymous No.14886974]

>>14886931
cause it's written in flemish

[Anonymous No.14886984]

>>14886951

Your friend is probably from Rotterdamistan by the sound of it.

[Anonymous No.14886998]

>>14886944
>Dutch people are the Jews of Europe.
hey be nice to the chosen, they have a lot of great writers unlike the d*tch

[Anonymous No.14887020]

>>14886931
The closest thing to good Dutch literature (as far as I know anyway) would be the Afrikaans corpus. The guys from the sixties were particularly good with their prose and poetry.
Strange thing is, I can't really seem to find much of the Afrikaans literature online, it's mostly old printed stuff we have in university/school/public libraries. But believe me there is a shit load of stuff. Maybe the situation is similar with the Dutch.

[Anonymous No.14887042]

>>14886931
Literature is for depressed people

[Anonymous No.14887281]

>>14886931
>unless you consider Erasmus Dutch
he wás Dutch...

[Anonymous No.14887395]

Nescio is alright, although I was getting feeling there is something strongly missing in translation.
Evenings by Gerard Reve on the other hand was the most autistic shit imginable.
>OH HALLOOO JOOP, I SEE YOUR BALDNESS HAS PROGRESSED SOMEWHAT, ANYWAY HOW IS JUUP DOING
for how long, 300 pages? get a grip jesus fuck

[Anonymous No.14887418]

You faggots have never read Boon, I presume? The guy who would’ve won the nobel if it weren’t for his death? Anyways, our poetry is better I’d reckon. Prose brings out the cynism in our language but our poetry is quite melodic and sentimental. Sadly it takes some knowledge of our culture to see the truly nice literature. Yes, I think I quite like our literature

[Anonymous No.14887424]

>>14886931
I think there is probably plenty of Dutch literature which is "significant" by the standard of being able to get a lot out of it - increase your global understanding, acquire insight, develop as a person - with a close reading. As to why this literature is not "significant" in the sense of being widely recognized and praised in Western academia, I think it's probably just because not many non-Netherlanders bother to learn Dutch.

[Anonymous No.14887475]

>>14886931
anyone read van gogh's letters?

[Anonymous No.14887494]

>>14886931
All good Dutch literature is their Reformed literature.

[Anonymous No.14887592]

>>14886998
Like Kafka and.....?

[Anonymous No.14887622]

>>14887592
singer, heller, salinger, babel, bob dylan, grossman, lispector, potok, proust, primo levi, the list could go on

[Anonymous No.14887636]

Toothpaste

[Anonymous No.14887657]

Does Spinoza count?

[Anonymous No.14887724]

>>14886931
Influence is not the only independent variable for the quality of a work. Dutch literature has barely any influence but there are good books. You just need to be Dutch to be able to read most of them.

[Anonymous No.14888010]

>>14887622
A long list of forgettable, mediocre cunts,

[Anonymous No.14888028]

Stijn Streuvels, Willem Elsschot

[Anonymous No.14888162]

>>14888010
no

[Anonymous No.14888183]

>>14886954
>praising the goings-on of a faggot written by a faggot
>calling OTHER people plebs

[Anonymous No.14888184]

Guido Gezelle

[Anonymous No.14888192]

>>14888010
Proust is forgettable and mediocre? You're an illiterate retard

[Anonymous No.14888221]

Couperus, Streuvels, Mullisch, Du Perron, Menno ter Braak, Nescio, Van Eeden, Claus. (These are the only authors I’ve read; I cannot and will not judge about other authors. Some people here like to bash on books they haven’t read themselves.)

All have written some significant and more important, great, works; and in my opinion mainly because of their style of writing, and not for their interesting plots per se (Mullisch maybe). The international canon of literature is mainly based around the novel’s plot as literary style is incredibly hard to translate, and it can thus be an obstacle in the preservation of the quality of the work.

[Anonymous No.14888618]

The Dutch language doesn't allow for creative thinking

[Anonymous No.14888660]

>*single-handedly outclasses all of poetry*

[Anonymous No.14888717]

>>14886931
Because their language is an autistic amalgamation of English and German