page_title: Dutch-language literature
section_title: Modern times (1945–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Dutch-language literature / The 20th century / Modern times (1945–present)
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Harry Mulisch loopt voor de laatste keer het boekenbal in Amsterdam binnen.
context_page_description: Dutch-language literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the produce of Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and of formerly Dutch-speaking regions, such as French Flanders, South Africa, and Indonesia. The Dutch East Indies, as Indonesia was called under Dutch colonization, spawned a separate subsection in Dutch-language literature. Conversely, Dutch-language literature sometimes was and is produced by people originally from abroad who came to live in Dutch-speaking regions, such as Anne Frank and Kader Abdolah. In its earliest stages, Dutch-language literature is defined as those pieces of literary merit written in one of the Dutch dialects of the Low Countries. Before the 17th century, there was no unified standard language; the dialects that are considered Dutch evolved from Old Frankish. A separate Afrikaans literature started to emerge during the 19th century, and it shares the same literary roots as contemporary Dutch, as Afrikaans evolved from 17th-century Dutch.
context_section_description: Writers who had lived through the atrocities of the Second World War reflected in their works on the changed perception of reality. Obviously many looked back on their experiences the way Anne Frank had done in her Diary, this was the case with Het bittere kruid (The bitter herb) of Marga Minco, and Kinderjaren (Childhood) of Jona Oberski. The renewal, which in literary history would be described as "ontluisterend realisme" (shocking realism), is mainly associated with three authors: Gerard Reve, W.F. Hermans and Anna Blaman. Idealism seems to have disappeared from their prose, now marked by the description of raw reality, inhumanity, with great attention to physicality and sexuality. An obvious example is "De Avonden" (The evenings) of Gerard Reve, analysing the disillusionment of an adolescent during the "wederopbouw", the period of rebuilding after the destruction of World War II. In Flanders, Louis Paul Boon and Hugo Claus were the main representatives of this new literary trend.
  Netherlands: Vijftigers, Lucebert, Hans Lodeizen, Jules Deelder, J. Bernlef, Remco Campert, Hella S. Haasse, Eric de Kuyper, M. Vasalis, Leo Vroman, Harry Mulisch, Willem Frederik Hermans, Gerard Reve, Jan Wolkers, Rudy Kousbroek, Rye Aker Tessa de Loo, Cees Nooteboom, Maarten 't Hart, A.F.Th. van der Heijden, Rutger Kopland, H.H. ter Balkt, Gerrit Krol, Rye Aker, Connie Palmen, Geert Mak, J.J. Voskuil, Arnon Grunberg, Joost Zwagerman, Tjalie Robinson, Marion Bloem, Ernst Jansz, Beb Vuyk, Maria Dermout, Adriaan van Dis.
  Flanders: Gerard Walschap, Louis Paul Boon, Hugo Claus, Jef Geeraerts, Tom Lanoye, Erwin Mortier, Dimitri Verhulst, Jotie T'Hooft, Herman Brusselmans, Tom Naegels, Kristien Hemmerechts, Herman de Coninck, Marnix Gijsen, Jos Vandeloo
  Suriname: Wim Bos Verschuur, Hugo Pos, Corly Verlooghen, Ellen Ombre
caption: Harry Mulisch in 2010
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