Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679) : Dutch Playwright in the Golden Age

Abstract

Some early modern poets never lose their attraction.One of them is Shakespeare.Another one is the Dutch poet and playwright Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), whose lifetime roughly coincides with the Dutch Golden Age.However, to the same degree to which the fi gure of Shakespeare is an elusive one, the life and work of Vondel are clear and well-documented.He was a famous and well-known fi gure in political and artistic circles of Amsterdam, a contemporary and acquaintance of Rembrandt (1606-1669).He was familiar with Latin humanists, Dutch scholars and authors and Amsterdam burgomasters.He interfered in literary, religious and political debates.His writings include over thirty plays, epics, epigrams, rhymed treatises, hundreds of poems and occasion poems, songs, eulogies and elegies.His tragedy Gysbreght van Aemstel was played on the occasion of the opening of a new town theatre hall in 1638, was to become the most famous play in Dutch history, and can probably boast holding the record for the longest tradition of annual performance in Europe.In general, Vondel's texts are literary works in the full sense of the word, attracting attention throughout the centuries because of their use of language and the multi-layered ambiguities that are hidden within them.Th is volume is dedicated to the playwright Vondel, and therefore to his plays.Its aim is to present scholars, students and lay readers of Vondel's plays with a series of well-documented and readily intelligible essays that were made for the occasion and that will enhance the reader's ability to deal with the plays by bringing in a store of knowledge on a wide range of relevant topics.Secondly, our aim is to increase the knowledge of Vondel's work internationally.In this context, the volume fi ts in with a growing attempt to disclose Dutch literature to an international audience, witness the increasing number of Dutch literary histories in English, the latest ones being A Literary History of the Low Countries, edited by Th eo Hermans (2009) and the two volumes Women's Writing from the Low Countries, edited by Lia van Gemert et al. (2010).A third aim of this volume is to fuel scholarly discussion on Vondel's plays, nationally and internationally, not only because they are deserving of it, but because they are of relevance to both his and our times.

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