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A Mid-Nineteenth Century Dutch View of American Life and Letters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Henry Zylstra
Henry Zylstra*
Affiliation:
Calvin College
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Extract

Perhaps it would have been hard to find a writer on the continent of Europe during the second and third quarters of the last century who was so eager, so sympathetic, and so persistent a student of American life and letters as the Dutch poet, author, and critic, Everhardus Tan Potgieter (1808–75).

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 57 , Issue 4-Part1 , December 1942 , pp. 1108 - 1136
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1942

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References

Note 1 in page 1108 I want to acknowledge a general indebtedness in preparing this article to R. Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” De Nieuwe Taalgids, xxiii (1929), 273–294.

Note 2 in page 1108 E. J. Potgieter, Brieven aan Cd Busken Huet uitgegeven door G. Busken Huet (Haarlem, 1902), ii, 184. All quotations from Dutch authors in this article are given in English. The translations are mine. It seemed best to give the titles of Potgieter's works in English; the Dutch title of a work by him will be found in the footnote the first time the work is cited.

Note 3 in page 1108 “Onderweg in den Regen,” De Gids, 1864, iv, 446–447 (De Werken van E. J. Potgieter Proza, Poezy, Kritiek verzameld onder toezicht van Joh. C. Zimmerman [Haarlem, 1885, 1886], viii, 374. This work will hereafter be designated Werken).

Note 4 in page 1108 Quoted by Dr. W. J. A. Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (Groningen, 1892), iv, 184.

Note 5 in page 1109 For an account of Potgieter as business man, see P. N. Muller, “Potgieter ter Beurze,” De Gids, 1886, iv, 411–420.

Note 6 in page 1109 Het Noorden; in Omtrekken en Tafereelen (Amsterdam, 1836, 1840) (Werken, iii and iv).

Note 7 in page 1109 De Gids, 1858, i, 119–129, 309–342, 440–467, 782–831 (Werken, xvii, 3-6-214).

Note 8 in page 1109 “Een Blik naar Crabbe,” De Gids, 1858, ii, 584–514 and “George Crabbe,” De Gids, 1858, ii, 602–641, 780–819 and 1859, i, 105–156 and ii, 198–231, 799–877 (Werken, xvii, 252–412 and xviii, 1–141).

Note 9 in page 1109 Proeven van een Humorist (Amsterdam, 1836); Rienzi (Deventer, 1836); Vathek (Amsterdam, 1837); Tafelkout (Amsterdam, 1840); Studies en Schetsen (Deventer, 1842).

Note 10 in page 1109 E. J. Potgieter Poezy (Haarlem, 1868), i, 193–333, 337–438 (Werken, ix, 193–335, 337–441).

Note 11 in page 1109 Quoted by Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde, vi, 184.

Note 12 in page 1109 Cd Busken Huet, “Potgieter's Kritiek,” Litterarische Fantasien (Haarlem), xxii (1886), 35.

Note 13 in page 1110 “Narede,” E. J. Potgieter's Verspreide en Nagelaten Werken … uitgegeven onder toezigt van Joh. C. Zimmerman (Haarlem), v (1876), 432–433.

Note 14 in page 1110 Het Leven van Potgieter (Haarlem), pp. 242–243.

Note 15 in page 1110 Adriaan J. Barnouw, The Dutch (Columbia University Press, 1940), p. 148.

Note 16 in page 1110 Liedekens van Bontekoe (Amsterdam, 1840) (Werken, xii, 1–52).

Note 17 in page 1111 “De Nalatenschap van den Landjonker,” De Musen, Nederlandsch Tijdschrift…, 1835, pp. 48–58, 154–159 (De Werken, xi, 151–165).

Note 18 in page 1111 “Janmaat” is the personification of Holland at sea.

Note 19 in page 1112 “Het Rijks-Museum te Amsterdam,” De Gids, 1844, ii, 18–19 (Werken, ii, 100–102).

Note 20 in page 1112 “Potgieter's Kritiek,” Litterarische Fantasien, xxii, 22 ff.

Note 21 in page 1112 For a discussion of how Potgieter's sympathies for America were related to his idealistic liberalism, see C. G. N. de Vooys, Letterkundige Studieen (Groningen, 1910), pp. 219 ff.

Note 22 in page 1113 Quoted by Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 274.

Note 23 in page 1113 “Landverhuizing naar de Vereenigde Staten,” De Gids, 1855, i, 529–530 (Werken, viii, 216–218).

Note 24 in page 1113 “Landverhuizing …,” De Gids, 1855, i, 529 (Werken, viii, 216).

Note 25 in page 1113 Brieven aan Huet, iii, 180–183. See also page 236.

Note 26 in page 1113 “Landverhuizing …,” De Gids, 1855, i, 467 (Werken, viii, 140).

Note 27 in page 1113 “Pietistische Poezij,” De Gids, 1853, ii, 314 (Werken, xv, 40).

Note 28 in page 1114 Brieven aan Huet, iii, 70.

Note 29 in page 1114 Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 293.

Note 30 in page 1114 For example, in “Landverhuizing …,” De Gids, 1855, i, 465–467, 494–498 (Werken, viii, 137–139, 174–178); “Beranger,” De Gids, 1858, i, 815 (Werken, xvii, 190); and “Onder Weg in den Regen,” De Gids, 1864, ii, 435–436 (Werken, viii, 360).

Note 31 in page 1114 De Gids, 1858, i, 814–815 (Werken, vii, 189–191).

Note 32 in page 1114 Cd Busken Huet, “Potgieter. Persoonlijke Herinneringen,” Litterarische Fantasien en Kritieken, xiii, 73.

Note 33 in page 1114 De Gids, 1861, ii, 914–932 (Werken, ix, 126–143).

Note 34 in page 1114 Werken, xii, 378–415.

Note 35 in page 1114 Werken, xii, 378 n.

Note 36 in page 1115 Here the Dutch is untranslatable: “Slanke, schitterende, stoute, Schoone….”

Note 37 in page 1115 “Landverhuizing …,” De Gids, 1855, i, 530.

Note 38 in page 1115 “Aan New-York,” Nederlandsche Muzen-Almanak, xxiv, 15–22 (Werken, ix, 22–28).

Note 39 in page 1115 “De Droom van den Slaaf,” De Gids, 1843, ii, 615–616 (Werken, xii, 227–229).

Note 40 in page 1115 “Het Zingen van den Slaaf,” De Gids, 1844, ii, 337–338 (Werken, ix, 45–46).

Note 41 in page 1115 “Het Goede Deel,” De Gids, 1744, ii, 596–598 (Werken, xii, 237–240).

Note 42 in page 1115 “Het Quarteronne-Meisje,” De Gids, 1845, ii, 310–312 (Werken, xii, 263–265).

Note 43 in page 1115 “Salmagundi,” De Gids, 1851, i, 670 (Werken, vii, 361–362).

Note 44 in page 1115 Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 287.

Note 45 in page 1115 “Begrafenis van den Minnisink,” De Gids, 1839, ii, 395–396 (Werken, xi, 321–323).

Note 46 in page 1115 “Weeklagt des Indiaans,” De Gids, 1839, ii, 123–124 (Werken, xi, 328–331).

Note 47 in page 1116 “Mahaskah of de Witte Wolk,” De Gids, 1838, ii, 446–458 (Werken, vi, 203–221).

Note 48 in page 1116 Potgieter was using the first volume of the edition published by Campbell and Burns (London, 1837).

Note 49 in page 1116 De Gids, 1838, ii, 447–448 (Werken, vi, 205–206).

Note 50 in page 1116 De Gids, 1838, ii, 446 (Werken, vi, 204).

Note 51 in page 1116 “De Ontmoeting der Oude en Nieuwe Wereld,” De Gids, 1838, ii, 446 (Werken, vi, 204).

Note 52 in page 1116 The poem was published without title in John G. C. Brainard, Occasional Pieces of Poetry (New York, 1825), pp. 49–51.

Note 53 in page 1116 Brainard, Occasional Pieces of Poetry, p. 49.

Note 54 in page 1116 “Begrafenis van een' der eerste Kolonisten in 1630.” Not included in McLellan's three published volumes of verse. I could not trace it in the journals of the period.

Note 55 in page 1116 “De Indiaan op de Begraafplaats zijner Vaderen.” The poem was first published in Poems, ed. Washington Irving (London, 1832), pp. 173–176.

Note 56 in page 1117 De Gids, 1839, i, 146.

Note 57 in page 1117 “Jan, Jannetje, en hun jongste Kind,” De Gids, 1842, ii, 44 (Werken, i, 29–30).

Note 58 in page 1117 “Mount Vernon,” De Gids, 1861, ii, 914–932 (Werken, ix, 126–143).

Note 59 in page 1117 Werken, ix, 28.

Note 60 in page 1118 Brieven aan Huet, ii, 82.

Note 61 in page 1118 De Gids, 1858, i, 461 (Werken, xvii, 133).

Note 62 in page 1118 See, for example, De Gids, 1860, ii, 870–871 and “Onderweg in den Regen,” De Gids, 1864, iv, 452–453 (Werken, viii, 381–382).

Note 63 in page 1118 Brieven aan Huet, ii, 292.

Note 64 in page 1118 “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 277.

Note 65 in page 1118 De Gids, 1839, i, 135–149.

Note 66 in page 1118 De Gids, 1864, iv, 449–450 (Werken, viii, 377–378).

Note 67 in page 1118 See Brieven aan Huet, ii, 205.

Note 68 in page 1118 In 1872 Potgieter wrote Huet that he had found Frederick Hudson's Journalism in the United States from 1690–1872 interesting.

Note 69 in page 1119 Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 293. i regret not having had access to a book Pennink mentions: Catalogus van de Bibliotheek van wijlen E. J. Potgieter aan de … Universiteit van Amsterdam … gegeven door Mej. E. J. Potgieter (Amsterdam, 1879).

Note 70 in page 1119 “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 277.

Note 71 in page 1119 “John Fenimore Cooper op Reis,” De Gids, 1837, ii, 69–74. Potgieter's “Een Tuin achter het Huis …” is a freely selected translation of the earlier parts of Letter viii, “Excursion up the Rhine”; Potgieter's “Louis Philippe en General Lafayette” is a translation of the footnote to Letter iv, “Residence in France,” p. 49.

Note 72 in page 1119 De Gids, 1838, ii, 448 (Werken, vi, 206).

Note 73 in page 1120 De Gids, 1838, i, 193.

Note 74 in page 1120 De Gids, 1839, i, 140.

Note 75 in page 1120 “Grond en Geschiedenis,” De Gids, 1857, i, 86 (Werken, xv, 121–122).

Note 76 in page 1120 So Pennink (“Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 289) has it from Nippold, Mannen van Beteekenis in onze Dagen (Haarlem, 1875).

Note 77 in page 1120 Noted by Pennink (“Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 280) from J. M. de Waal's “Briefwisseling van Aernout Drost met Potgieter en Heye,” Tijdschrift van Nieuwe Taal en Letterkunde, 1918, p. 117.

Note 78 in page 1120 De Gids, 1838, i, 193.

Note 79 in page 1121 De Gids, 1839, i, 140.

Note 80 in page 1121 “Don Juan. Studies van Spoken,” De Gids, 1842, ii, 91–101. The original was first published in the Knickerbocker, xviii, 247–253 (March, 1841) and later in Wolfert's Roost and other Papers (New York, 1855).

Note 81 in page 1121 Het Leven van Potgieter, pp. 264–265.

Note 82 in page 1121 “Aan New-York,” Werken, ix, 25.

Note 83 in page 1122 “Landverhuizing …,” De Gids, 1855, i, 486 (Werken, viii, 163–164).

Note 84 in page 1122 De Gids, 1842, ii, 22–46 (Werken, i, 1–33).

Note 85 in page 1124 De Gids, 1851, i, 501–536, 635–671, 743–781 and ii, 74–105, 232–262, 355–387 (Werken, vii, 260–460 and viii, 1–136).

Note 86 in page 1124 “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 281.

Note 87 in page 1124 “George Crabbe,” De Gids, 1858, ii, 814 (Werken, xvii, 342).

Note 88 in page 1124 Brieven aan Huet, i, 155.

Note 89 in page 1125 “Onderweg in den Regen,” De Gids, 1864, iv, 427–453 (Werken, viii, 349–382).

Note 90 in page 1126 So Pennink (p. 284) has it from the Nederlandsche Muzen-Almanak, 1842, p. 22.

Note 91 in page 1126 “Wigwam contra Almack's,” De Gids, 1842, ii, 501–541.

Note 92 in page 1126 De Gids, 1851, ii, 239–240 (Werken, viii, 59–61).

Note 93 in page 1126 “Verjonging,” De Gids, 1844, ii, 424–441. Paulding's vignette, never collected, appeared in the Columbian, i (February, 1844), 78–83.

Note 94 in page 1126 “Hoe Jonathan de Wereld Beet Heeft,” De Gids, 1839, ii, 385–393.

Note 95 in page 1126 De Gids, 1839, i, 141.

Note 96 in page 1126 De Gids, 1864, iv, 449 (Werken, viii, 377).

Note 97 in page 1126 Brieven aan Huet, ii, 122. Potgieter noted that the Nile Notes of a Howadji had been published in New York in 1851.

Note 98 in page 1126 “Wat Men Al te Leen Vraagt in het Verre Westen van America!” De Gids, 1841, ii, 466–473.

Note 99 in page 1126 Vol. l, 223 (January, 1840). Potgieter very probably took the excerpt which he translated from Felton's review.

Note 100 in page 1126 Allen Prescott. Tooneelen uit Dorp en Stad in Nieuw-Engeland (Deventer, 1840). The American edition was published anonymously in two volumes by Harper and Brothers in New York in 1834.

Note 101 in page 1127 De Gids, 1842, i, 404.

Note 102 in page 1127 “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 283.

Note 103 in page 1127 Quoted from the Prospectus of De Gids by Jonckbloet, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde, vi, 172.

Note 104 in page 1127 De Gids, 1839, i, 135–149.

Note 105 in page 1127 Vol. xlv, 475–481 (October, 1837).

Note 106 in page 1127 De Gids, 1839, i, 145.

Note 107 in page 1127 De Gids, 1839, i, 136–137.

Note 108 in page 1128 Potgieter was enthusiastic about the excellence of the translation by “one of our best ship's officers.” De Gids, 1842, i, 550.

Note 109 in page 1128 De Gids, 1842, i, 535–550.

Note 110 in page 1129 Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 293.

Note 111 in page 1129 De Gids, 1855, i, 513 (Werken, viii, 197).

Note 112 in page 1129 De Gids, 1864, iv, 449 (Werken, viii, 377).

Note 113 in page 1129 De Gids, 1842, ii, 35–36 (Werken, i, 19–20).

Note 114 in page 1129 De Gids, 1839, i, 141.

Note 115 in page 1129 “De Schipbreuk van den Hesperus,” De Gids, 1843, ii, 213–216 (Werken, xii, 218–222).

Note 116 in page 1129 “Santa Filomena (Saint Nightingale),” De Gids, 1858, ii, 256–258 (Werken, ix, 89).

Note 117 in page 1130 De Gids, 1858, ii, 256.

Note 118 in page 1130 De Gids, 1853, ii, 315–316 (Werken, xv, 41–42).

Note 119 in page 1130 De Gids, 1860, ii, 871.

Note 120 in page 1130 De Gids, 1851, ii, 367–387 (Werken, viii, 108–136).

Note 121 in page 1130 De Gids, 1851, ii, 367 (Werken, viii, 108).

Note 122 in page 1130 Bibliotheek van Buitenlandsche Klassieken (Haarlem, 1857).

Note 123 in page 1130 De Gids, 1857, ii, 835.

Note 124 in page 1130 Poets of the West—a Selection of Favorite American Poems, with Memoir s of Their Authors (New York, 1860).

Note 125 in page 1131 De Gids, 1864, ii, 196 (Werken, xvi, 323).

Note 126 in page 1131 De Gids, 1857, i, 31–32 (Werken, xv, 52–53).

Note 127 in page 1131 Brieven aan Huet, ii, 82.

Note 128 in page 1131 “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 288.

Note 129 in page 1131 Werken, ix, 392.

Note 130 in page 1131 Werken, ix, 417–118.

Note 131 in page 1131 Werken, ix, 369–370, 376, 387–388.

Note 132 in page 1131 “Het toekomstig Leven,” De Gids, 1843, ii, 663–664 (Werken, xii, 230–232).

Note 133 in page 1131 “Leven,” De Gids, 1843, ii, 152–156 (Werken, xii, 213–217).

Note 134 in page 1131 “Mashakah …,” De Gids, 1838, ii, 455 (Werken, vi, 217).

Note 135 in page 1131 “Het Lied van den Valk,” De Gids, 1843, ii, 334–336 (Werken, xii, 223–226). Knickerbocker, xix, 125 (March, 1842).

Note 136 in page 1131 J. G. Whittier, The Literary Remains of John G. C. Brainard with a Sketch of His Life (Hartford, 1832).

Note 137 in page 1132 “Eene Novelle?” De Gids, 1864, iii, 521–563 (Werken, viii, 294–348).

Note 138 in page 1132 “Aafje,” De Gids, 1864, iv, 485–492 (Werken, xii, 344–350).

Note 139 in page 1132 De Gids, 1860, ii, 870–873.

Note 140 in page 1132 Pennink, “Potgieter en de Amerikaanse Letterkunde,” p. 293.

Note 141 in page 1133 De Gids, 1860, ii, 871.

Note 142 in page 1133 De Gids, 1864, iv, 445 (Werken, viii, 372).

Note 143 in page 1133 Huet, “Persoonlijke Herinneringen,” Litterarische Fantasien en Kritieken, xiii, 77.

Note 144 in page 1133 Brieven aan Huet, i, 9.

Note 145 in page 1133 Brieven aan Huet, i, 126–127.

Note 146 in page 1133 De Gids, 1864, iv, 445 (Werken, viii, 372).

Note 147 in page 1134 De Gids, 1857, ii, 265–266.

Note 148 in page 1134 Brieven aan Huet, i, 55.

Note 149 in page 1134 Brieven aan Huet, i, 104.

Note 150 in page 1134 Brieven aan Huet, i, 120.

Note 151 in page 1134 Brieven aan Huet, iii, 13.

Note 152 in page 1134 De Gids, 1864, iv, 427–453 (Werken, viii, 349–382).

Note 153 in page 1136 G. Kalff, Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (Groningen, 1912), vii, 459.

Note 154 in page 1136 “Potgieter. Persoonlijke Herinneringen …,” Litterarische Fantasien en Kritieken (Haarlem, n.d.), xiii, 40–41.

Note 155 in page 1136 Het Leven van Potgieten (Haarlem, 1903).