Uitzondering op de regel

De positie van vrouwelijke auteurs in het naoorlogse Nederlandse literaire veld

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Summary

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Exception to the rule
The participation of female writers within the Dutch post-war literary field.

This study focuses on the participation of writers in the Dutch literary field since 1945, with special attention to the impact of gender difference on their careers and reputations. Despite their popularity with readers, female authors tend to be overlooked or under-represented in literary histories of the period. Earlier research on this subject has shown that it is misleading to concentrate on any one explanation for this imbalanced picture; it appears to be a highly complicated matter. One of the causes, however, can be found in the nature of the participation of female writers in the literary field.

In this study, a gendered perspective on the situation is combined with a sociological or institutional approach to literature, outlined in the first chapter. Research of this kind, influenced by the work of the French theorist Pierre Bourdieu, studies the process of mutual interaction in the literary field, examining the diverse institutions and groups that are involved in the material and immaterial production and distribution of literary works. Literary research which focuses on institutions and processes in the literary field has shown that the critical reception of a work appears to be linked to the ways in which writers manifest themselves within the literary field. To gain further insights into the position of female authors in the literary field, this dissertation pays particular attention to their participation in ancillary literary activities.

Before taking a closer look at these activities (by both male and female authors), the necessary first step is to establish the gender-division of writers in the post-war literary field in The Netherlands. Recently there has been much speculation on the large number of female writers in Dutch literature, yet little empirical research has been done into the actual numbers of female authors in the post-war period. In the second chapter of this dissertation, therefore, I present the results of a survey of all the authors who published a new work of prose or poetry in The Netherlands in six (randomly-chosen) cross-section years, one in every decade from 1947 to 1997. Looking at the authors publishing in each year, the total number of authors declined from 268 in 1947 to 198 by 1967. However, in the last 30 years the total number of published writers has increased in comparison with the first three post-war decades, leaping to 349 in 1977 and ending up at 427 by 1997. On the other hand, when we take a look at the number of male and female authors who published in the selected years, it seems that the gender proportions remained remarkably constant in the period from 1947 to 1987. Throughout this period, the percentage of female authors remained virtually the same: approximately a quarter. Only in the last decade, in 1997, has the percentage increased from 25 to 35 percent.

Although the actual number of publishing female authors has thus increased in the last three decades, only a relatively small number bring out their work through major publishers with prestige in the literary field. This is a point of great significance, since the literary status of writers strongly depends on the critical attention given to their books in the daily and weekly press. When critics make their choices as to which new works of poetry and narrative prose are to be reviewed, they undoubtedly take the publishers into account. From this point of view, writers who do not (or cannot) place their work with large and prestigious publishing houses are at a disadvantage as compared with the writers who do.

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The third chapter of the dissertation is focused on the last three decades of the twentieth century, a period during which there have been major changes in society regarding the position of women. Education and career opportunities have improved significantly for Dutch women since the sixties. But are these developments reflected in women's participation in the literary field, beyond their publication of primary works of literature? In this chapter I analyse the ways in which male and female authors participate in ancillary literary activities, particularly at the beginning of their career. These important activities include the publication of shorter prose or poetry in literary periodicals, and critical writing for newspapers and cultural magazines. More administrative or organisational activities, such as the editorship of a literary magazine or membership of a jury for awarding a literary prize, also feature in an overview of ancillary activities in the literary field.

Some of these secondary literary activities have seen increased numbers of female participants in the last three decades of the twentieth century. In the nineties, for example, women published more often (proportionally) in literary magazines than their male contemporaries. The number of female writers who play their part in literary prize juries has also increased markedly in the eighties and nineties. However, fewer female writers take part in reflective activities such as publishing critical writings which provide an opportunity for authors to express their own aesthetic principles.

The second part of the dissertation - chapter 4, 5 and 6 - moves from a quantitative approach to a more qualitative discussion of the position of women writers in the Dutch literary field over the last three decades of the twentieth century. In order to investigate the sociology of literary success, I follow the careers of three female authors who have started publishing in the three successive decades. By means of case studies, I demonstrate in detail how these women have made themselves known in the literary world. The studies provide examples of the positive effects of ancillary literary activities on the critical reception of their work.

In the 1970s, at the beginning of her career, Mensje van Keulen was the only female editor of a literary magazine, an exceptional position which contributed to her social and cultural capital and had a positive effect on the reception of her literary work in the long term. The first novel of Nelleke Noordervliet, published in 1987, was part of the revival of the historical novel. By giving lectures and writing reviews in the beginning of her career, Noordervliet entered into the public debate about the function of history and the genre of the historical novel. Manon Uphoff started her career in the nineties and is a successful example of the way in which women writers are tending to gain symbolic capital and are considering writing as a profession.

In addition to putting flesh on the statistical bones of the first section of the dissertation, these case studies demonstrate some fascinating developments within the Dutch literary field towards the end of the twentieth century. They not only reveal some significant changes in the place of women within the world of Dutch literature, but also highlight the shifting importance of institutions such as literary magazines, major publishers and literary prizes to the establishment of literary reputations.