De taal van het anti-parlementarisme. Poëzie en politiek in Nederland 1870-1940

Abstract

The language of anti-parliamentarianism. Poetry and politics in the Netherlands 1870-1940

‘The language of anti-parliamentarianism’ discusses the intertwinement between Dutch political history during the late nineteenth century and the interwar period and experiments in poetry that were going on at the same time. Doubts were expressed both inside and outside parliament about the power and possibilities of language. Politics was often criticized as a futile activity consisting of endless rounds of debates and meetings. This criticism was levelled at Parliament in particular; the symbol of political rhetoric and the bastion of (liberal) civilisation. Indeed, it was in the realm of poetry that the boundaries of language were explored: What if the accepted rules and forms were abandoned? And what if language itself was abandoned? Rhetorically, there was a solution: the act. ‘Acting’, however, had been discredited as it had descended into violence during the Second World War and the Holocaust. Thereafter, language once again became the only legitimate weapon in politics.

This article is part of the special issue 'Parlementen in de Nederlanden'.