Grenscontroles in het Nederlandse literaire veld van het interbellum

Abstract

Border control in the Dutch literary field between the wars. The literary critic A.M. de Jong and Nieuwe Zakelijkheid Powerful critics around the journal Forum (1932-1935) like Hendrik Marsman and Menno ter Braak branded authors of Nieuwe Zakelijkheid to be no more than reporters and imitating followers – as opposed to ‘real’ writers of literature. However, from a field theoretical perspective, what seems to be a critical judgment in a literary debate, on closer inspection turns out to be about delimitating the borders of the literary field against a young group of journalists trying to find their way into literature. Against this background the present article focuses on Forum-opponent A.M. de Jong and his use of Nieuwe Zakelijkheid, situated within the debate on the term and the concept in other art disciplines as painting or architecture. The article argues that De Jong’s concept of literature reveals more similarities with his assumed antagonists than current research claims.