A Love

Deyssel, Lodewijk van, 1864-1952Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 683K words
Chapters: 69

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Een liefde by Lodewijk van DeysselAuthor: Deyssel, Lodewijk van, 1864-1952,Language: Dutch, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jan 1, 2004

Editor's review

Een liefde is a novel by the Dutch writer Lodewijk van Deyssel and an important work of late nineteenth-century Dutch literature. Van Deyssel was one of the leading figures of Dutch Impressionist literature, known for his finely wrought psychological portraiture and sensory description. The book takes love as its theme and, through an intimate depiction of the characters' inner lives, brings to light the emotional and moral predicaments of the bourgeois class of the time. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, the original text is available to readers at no cost. Reading it helps illuminate the intersection of Dutch Naturalist and Impressionist literature and will appeal to students of Dutch literature and readers interested in the nineteenth-century European novel. Because the original is in Dutch, non-Dutch readers will need some command of the language or should read alongside a translation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and scholars of Dutch literature or Low Countries culture
Readers interested in nineteenth-century European Naturalist and Impressionist fiction
Learners with reading ability in Dutch who wish to broaden their experience of reading in the original
Readers who enjoy literary fiction with finely observed psychological detail and serious emotional themes

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Dutch at all and no translation to assist them
Casual readers who prefer fast-paced plots or genre fiction
Readers with little interest in the nineteenth-century European literary context

Reading tips

Begin by learning where Van Deyssel stands in Dutch literary history and what characterizes Impressionist writing, then move on to the text.
Read alongside a Chinese or English translation to make the original easier to follow.
Pay attention to passages of sensory description and interior monologue, which are key to understanding the author's style.
After finishing, consult material on late nineteenth-century Dutch society and literary movements to deepen your understanding of the background.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

In what language was this book originally written? What language skills are needed?

The original is in Dutch. Reading the original in print or electronic form requires some reading ability in Dutch; if your command of the language is limited, it is best to read alongside an English or Chinese translation so that language barriers do not cause you to miss the work's literary value.

What kind of writer was Van Deyssel?

Lodewijk van Deyssel (1864–1952) was a Dutch writer generally regarded as one of the leading figures of Dutch Impressionism in literature; his writing is noted for finely wrought sensory and psychological description. This book is one of his novels.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to Dutch literature?

It can serve as supplementary reading, but it is not the easiest place to begin. It is best to have a basic grounding in nineteenth-century European literature and either some Dutch or a translation to assist you; the book will then be easier to understand.

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About the author

Deyssel, Lodewijk van, 1864-1952 Author · Dutch · 1864–1952

Lodewijk van Deyssel (1864–1952) was a Dutch writer and literary critic, born Karel Johan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm. He was a leading figure of the Dutch "Movement of the Eighties," a literary current known for its emphasis on personal sensibility, linguistic renewal, and artistic autonomy. Van Deyssel was known for his sensitive and incisive criticism and for an impressionistic style of fiction, and his work often focused on emotional, moral, and artistic questions. His representative works include the novel Een liefde and the study Multatuli: Multatuli en Mr. J van Lennep Multatuli en de Vrouwen. Public information is limited, but his criticism and creative writing had an important influence on the development of modern Dutch literature.