De Achttiende Eeuw 31 (1999) 2
Anke Gilleir
The individuality of femininity or the gender of the universal: Johanna
Schopenhauer and the Weimarer Klassik
In the introduction to her art history 'Jan van Eyck und seine
Nachfolger' (1822) the German author Johanna Schopenhauer refers to
her individuality as a quality indicator for her work. However, as the
semantic evolution of the word 'individuality' had not yet reached its
final stage by the end of the eighteenth century the question arises
how the author's self-reference should be interpreted. The qualification
Schopenhauer gives to her work and thus to her status as an author cannot
be understood without considering the specific historical environment
in which she lived and worked. As a member of Goethe's and Schiller's
cultural movement 'Weimarische Kunstfreunde', her use of the concept
of 'individuality' implies a rather negative self-image. On the other
hand a careful analysis of Johanna Schopenhauer's oeuvre reveals an
ambiguous attitude towards the German classicists and their lack of
openness towards the participation of women in the field of cultural
production. The modern and positive meaning of the concept 'individuality'
proves to be a means to escape the classicists' naturalist determination
of women and of their intellectual capacity for art and literature.
omhoog
Tom Verschaffel
Historiography in the first person singular.
The historian as an author in eighteenth-century Belgium
In the eighteenth century the focus of Belgian historiography shifted
from writing history and collecting historical data to
studying history. At first, historians would write histories
in which as many data as possible concerning the past of a subject (a
province, a city, a diocese, a religious institution) were gathered.
The typical 'new' historian would write a dissertation (a treatise,
a memoire) the subject of which was not so much the past of a certain
geographical or historical entity, but some historical or historiographical
issue. A dissertation would present research results in the form of
an account of the activities of the historian rather than historical
events. What the new historian wanted to do was to show the answer to
a certain problem, and explain how he had reached this solution. The
value of his text therefore depended on its specificity, since the answer
the historian proposed was only his answer. He had to discuss
any arguments he rejected and to stress the differences between his
conclusions and those accepted by others. All this becomes clear through
an elaborate study of Belgian historical texts published during (the
last decades of) the eighteenth century. In these texts the historian
'shows' himself, using the first person singular and appearing in person
before his audience: 'I' have found this, 'I' think that, 'I' am addressing
'my' readers. This development can be seen as an indication of the growing
self-confidence of the historian both as an author and as an individual.
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Gerard Schulte Nordholt
Are all Men Created to be Universal? Dutch Cultural and Scientific Societies
in the Decades around 1800.
In this lecture, given at the ASECS Annual Meeting in 1996, I discuss
the hypothesis that the accumulation of knowledge and information in
the last couple of centuries and especially in the eighteenth century
was an important factor in the rise and emergence of all sort of cultural
and scientific societies. As universal knowledge was no longer possible
for an individual, people became more and more dependent on each other
and hence needed institutions to exchange their knowledge. Even more
important was the extensive and ever expanding landscape of practical,
technical and day-to-day information. Based on extensive research of
the members of all sort of organisations (see: http://people.a2000.nl/nordholt/Socmainpage.htm)
and some characteristics of the reading public in the Netherlands around
1800, my hypothesis is that the rise of societies was not so much connected
with a new, larger public as with a more comprehensive knowledge. The
cultural or informational public remained small, but the need for information
grew. Without a certain exchange of information no nation could ever
hope to become a modern nation in the 19th century sense. Ideologies
were not only altruistic ideals, but did much to provide arguments for
the development and maintenance of the informational infrastructure.
(e.g. the sociability ideal: together is better). The public
of the societies did not need, nor wished to know everything, they just
needed a little universal knowledge ('Bildung'), enough to know how
to select, how to choose, how to behave in an emerging multi-optional
society. They became mini-Homines Universales.
omhoog
Willeke Los
John Locke in the Netherlands: the influence of his views concerning
individuality and education on P. A. Verwer (1696-1757) and K. van der
Palm (1730-1789).
This article traces the influence of Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning
Education (1693) in the eighteenth-century Netherlands, especially
with regard to his notion of individuality. Although Locke's educational
treatise was essentially meant for the gentry, from the start his views
were valued for their general usefulness and met with great approval
both in the Netherlands and in other European countries.
However, as educationalists turned their attention towards the middle
and lower classes in the second half of the eighteenth century, Locke's
views and especially those on individuality and private education needed
to be adapted in order to fit the needs of the intended audience. In
this process, Pieter Adriaan Verwer and Kornelis van der Palm played
a key role. Verwer, who had already translated several English theological
and literary publications into Dutch, provided the second Dutch annotated
translation of Some Thoughts Concerning Education, published
in 1753. Van der Palm wrote two price-winning treatises on education
which were to a large extent inspired by Locke's ideas.
In spite of their general approval of Locke's educational opinions,
both Verwer and Van der Palm disagreed with Locke's view that children
should receive a private education. While Verwer pointed at the unfavourable
social consequences and argued that Dutch schools were better than English
ones, Van der Palm designed a plan to reform education in schools in
order to make it meet the individual needs of children. Thus, a new
system of education was born in which schools were divided in three
classes and every class in three successive grades. This new system
was the beginning of the large-scale reform of schools which took place
in the Batavian Republic at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
omhoog
Marleen de
Vries
Writing is silver, silence is golden. Women in literary societies 1772-1800
Eighteenth-century Dutch literary societies were typical male strongholds.
Between 1772 and 1800 only 45 women were members, against some 1700
men. The Dutch Republic had around 60 societies, which are usually divided
into so-called reflective and poetic ones, two types which differed
strongly. There are several reasons, why women were only allowed as
members in poetic societies. First of all, while members of reflective
societies concentrated on delivering lectures to a very small male public,
poetic societies worked on publishing poems for the benefit of the whole
country. Most of the members, whether male or female, sent in their
poems by post. Women could therefore join these public societies without
having to leave their homes. Secondly, the poetic societies organised
competitions, answers to which had to be sent in anonymously. This condition
favoured the participation of women, who indeed turned out to be winners
sometimes. Finally, the poetic societies' professed aims to improve
the level of Dutch poetry and to help the country out of its moral and
economic misery helped women integrate in this literary circuit. In
the 1780s the societies developed into places of serious debate. Every
good writer, whether male or female, was welcome. In fact, the political
upheavals of the 'patriottentijd' were most favourable to women. During
these years their membership more than doubled. Three patriotic poetic
societies, all founded in the mid-eighties, were especially 'friendly'
to women. Not only did they bring in relatively many female members,
they also adjusted their laws to suit women. Two women writers, Petronella
Moens (1762-1843) and Adriana van Overstraten (1756-1828), who were
passionate poets and patriots, profited as much as they could from this
situation, joining eight poetic societies and contributing to many of
the societies' volumes. Still, very few women actually went to the meetings.
One exception is Maria Petronella Woesthoven (1760-1830) who joined
as a member both the 'Amsteldamsch dicht- en letteroefenend genootschap'
and 'Kunst wordt door arbeid verkreegen' in Leiden. Occasionally she
showed up in both societies, but she also managed to get involved in
a committee of literary judges. All female contributions to the societies'
volumes show that women did not limit their writings to typically female
topics (housekeeping, children, kitchen), as they were advised to by
literary critics, but instead wrote about public affairs (religion,
nation, morals). Apparently, the societies formed one Enlightenment
movement that did not push back women out of public life, but encouraged
their integration.
omhoog
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