Dr Beatrix van Dam
Dr Beatrix van Dam
Research assistant
Dutch Literary Studies
Decentralised Equal Opportunities Officer at the Institute of Dutch Studies
Main areas of work
- Dutch contemporary literature
- Dutch literature of the long 19th century
- travel narratives
- historical narrative
- Fictionality and factuality
- literature and knowledge
- Ecocriticism
- Experience-orientated literary didactics: Aesthetics in teaching Dutch as a foreign language
Publications and lectures
Monographs
Telling history:Representing the past in German and Dutch contemporary texts. Diss. Studies in German Literature 211. ed. Wilfried Barner, Georg Braungart, Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
Editorships
Main editor responsible for the complete edition of nachbarsprache niederländisch 40 (2025)
Basic topics in literary studies: Fictionality. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020 (with Lut Missinne and Ralf Schneider)
Travel Writing in Dutch and German, 1790-1930: Modernity, Regionality, Mobility. Routledge Research in Travel Writing 14. London: Routledge, 2017. (with Alison E. Martin and Lut Missinne)
Refereed journal articles
"Language learning in adult education: The role of Dutch at German adult education centres in the 21st century." nachbarsprache niederländisch 40 (2025): 83-100. (with Marthe Wieringa)
"'In dit schoon vooruitgezicht verheugd?' Genre-experimenten tussen toekomstvisie en toekomsttwijfel in de Nederlandse literatuur van de vroege negentiende eeuw." De Moderne Tijd [submitted].
"Staging Conscience: Johannes Nomsz's Morality Play Iemant en Niemant (1768) and the Enlightened Zinnespel in the Eighteenth Century." Early Modern Low Countries 8/1 (2024): 87-107.
"Ignorant Dutch Boys Reading German Philosophy? The Concept of Ignorance in Rhijnvis Feith's Brieven aan Sophie (1806) and Johannes Kinker's Brieven van Sophie aan Mr Rhynvis Feith (1807)." Journal of Dutch Literature 9/2 (2018): 22-35.
"Geschiedenis vertellen: De representatie van geschiedkundige kennis in fictionele en niet-fictionele teksten." Internationale Neerlandistiek 55/2 (2017): 171-187.
"Het verleden hier en nu? De dubbele illusie van werkelijkheid in de historische roman." Nederlandse Letterkunde 21/2 (2016): 131-158.
Articles in specialist journals, anthologies and encyclopaedias
Miek Zwamborn." Het kritisch literatuur lexicon van de 21e eeuw. Edited by Sander Bax, Bram Lambrecht, Christina Lammer and Lieselot De Taeye. Tilburg: Open Press Tilburg University, 2022. 366-387.
"Lyrical! (Reading) experience as an approach to literature in the Dutch classroom." Neighbouring Dutch 37 (2022): 73-92 (with Jeroen Dera)
"Literary texts in Dutch lessons: A survey among teachers and students at lower and upper secondary levels in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia." Neighbouring Language Dutch 27 (2022): 93-108 (with Alina Viermann).
"Introduction." Basic Topics in Literary Studies: Fictionality. Eds. Lut Missinne, Ralf Schneider and Beatrix van Dam. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020. 3-49. (with Lut Missinne and Ralf Schneider)
"Evidence and revitalisation? Historical experience and metahistoriography in popular historical narratives of the present." Realised pasts: Novelistic Historical Narrative in the Early 21st Century. Eds. Daniel Fulda, Stephan Jaeger and Elena Agazzi. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019. 57-80.
"Non-fictie, maar dan literair? Over fictie in populaire geschiedenisboeken: Geert Maks In Europe (2004) and David van Reybrouck's Congo (2010)." Neighbouring Language Dutch 32/2 (2018): 57-69.
"Introduction." Travel Writing in Dutch and German, 1790-1930: Modernity, Regionality, Mobility. Eds. Alison E. Martin, Lut Missinne and Beatrix van Dam. London: Routledge, 2017. 1-15. (with Alison E. Martin and Lut Missinne)
"'A novel into which you pour everything holterdipolter:' Louis Paul Boon's De Kapellekensbaan." Introductory course in literature from Flanders and the Netherlands. Ed. Johanna Bundschuh-Van Duikeren, Lut Missinne and Jan Konst. Volume 1. Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 2014. 252-280 (with Lut Missinne)
"'Teken de wisseling der dingen:' Textual processing of the past in Geert Mak's Het Stadspaleis." On the Threshold: "Own" and "Other" in Dutch Literature. Ed. Herbert van Uffelen. Vienna: praesens, 2010. 163-180.
Reviews / Conference reports
"Schakeringen van de koloniale blik in negentiende-eeuwse reisverhalen over de Indische archipel." Mirror of letters 66/2-3 (2024). [via: Rick Honings, De ontdekking van Insulinde: Op reis in Nederlands-Indië in de negentiende eeuw, 2024]
"Peter Buijs: De geboorte van het moderne ik." Nederlandse Letterkunde 28/1 (2023): 97-99 [about: Peter Buijs, De geboorte van het moderne ik: Geluk en identiteit in Nederlandse ego-documenten 1500-1850, 2021]
"'Dagboekschrijfgebeuren:' Matthieu Sergier verkent dagboekexperimenten uit de (lange) jaren zestig." Internationale Neerlandistiek 57/2 (2019): 190-194 [about: Matthieu Sergier, Het 'nouveau journal': dagboekexperimenten voor een nieuwe tijd, 2017]
"Johanna Bundschuh-van Duikeren: Gender and Postmodernism." Journal of Dutch Literature 5/2 (2014). Web. [about: Johanna Bundschuh-van Duikeren, Gender and Postmodernism: Exploring a Complex Relationship in the Dutch-Language Novel, 2014]
"'Lezen wat er niet staat': Een nieuw perspectief op de teksten van Geertruida Toussaint." Internationale Neerlandistiek 52/1 (2014): 84-88 [via: Annemarie Doornbos, Tegendraadse elementen in het werk van Geertruida Toussaint, 2013]
"Marco de Waard: Imagining Global Amsterdam." Francia-Recensio 4 (2013). Web. [about: Marco de Waard (ed.), Imagining Global Amsterdam: History, Culture and Geography in a World City, 2012]
[Conference report] "Through Words and Places: Travel and Writing in Dutch- and German-speaking Regions of Europe between 1800 and 1950." H-Germanistik (17 April 2013); Hsozkult (7 May 2013). Web. [about: "Through (W)Places", University of Münster. Münster, 1.3.-2.3. 2013]
"Judith Gera and Agnes Sneller: Inleiding literatuurgeschiedenis." Nederlandse Letterkunde 15/3 (2010). Web. [about: Judith Gera and Agnes Sneller, Inleiding literatuurgeschiedenis voor de internationale neerlandistiek, 2010]
For a wider audience
Main editorial website "Lyrical! Learning Dutch with literature." More than 80 didacticised literary texts for Dutch lessons. University of Münster 2021- . Web.
"A hundred hands waving in the waves." Everything but flat: Essays on current literature from the Netherlands and Flanders. Ed. Hans Beelen, Johanna Bundschuh-van Duikeren and Jan Konst. Aachen: amikejo, 2024. 25-31 [via: Miek Zwamborn, Algae: a portrait, translated from the Dutch by Bettina Bach, 2019]
"LYRISH-CARIBBEAN: Learning Dutch with literature in a postcolonial context." Neighbouring Language Dutch 38 (2023): 41-58.
"Een explosie van literatuur uit en over het Caraïbisch gebied: Het Album van de Caraïbische poëzie (2022)." Neighbouring Dutch 38 (2023): 96-97 [via: Michiel van Kempen, Bert Paasman, Noraly Beyer (eds.): Album van de Caraïbische poëzie, 2022]
"Farewell to the Father's Garden: Protestantism in Dutch Literature since the 18th Century." epd-Dokumentation 13 (2017): 17-21.
"Sebald in the Swiss Alps: Hiking on the edge of the abyss with Miek Zwamborn." literaturkritik.de 2016/10. web. [about: Miek Zwamborn, Wir sehen uns am Ende der Welt, translated from the Dutch by Bettina Bach, 2015]
"Ciska in wonderland." Ons Erfdeel 2 (2009): 163-165 [about: Monika van Paemel, De koningin van Sheba, 2008]
"A Belgian magic lamp: on the German translation of Hubert Lampo's The Arrival of Joachim Stiller (2009)." Neighbouring Dutch 1-2 (2009): 117-120 [about: Hubert Lampo, The Arrival of Joachim Stiller, from the Dutch by Herbert Genzmer, 2009]
"Met Faust op de snelweg." Neighbouring language Dutch 1-2 (2008): 110-113 [about: Geert van Istendael, Mijn Duitsland , 2007]
Readings
[forthcoming]"Literatuur en emotie: Een historisch perspectief op voelen en weten als conflict." Nederlands in meertalige contexten. 22nd Colloquium Neerlandicum: Wereldcongres van de Neerlandistiek. Vrije Universiteit Brussel. 25.-29.08.2025.
[forthcoming] "Know your feelings? Feeling between knowledge and ignorance in Elisabeth Maria Post's Het land, in brieven (1788)". Symposium The art of not knowing: Ignorance in the Early Modern Low Countries. Amsterdam Centre for the Study of Early Modernity. University of Amsterdam. 16 June 2025.
"'In dit schoon vooruitgezicht verheugd?' Genre-experimenten tussen toekomstvisie en toekomsttwijfel in de Nederlandse literatuur van de vroege negentiende eeuw." Jaarcongres De Moderne Tijd 2025: "Toekomst in de lage landen, 1780-1940." University of Amsterdam. 21.03.2025.
"Speaking with the dead? On dealing with fictionality in non-fictional (con)texts." Practices of Fictionality: Series of lectures School III, University of Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 3 December 2024.
"Diepteboring 1: Ignorance in historisch perspectief - de kennis van het niet-weten rond 1800." Panel 'De macht van het niet-weten: Ignorance Studies als kans voor de Nederlandse letterkunde' (organised and moderated by Feike Dietz and Beatrix van Dam), Achter de verhalen 9 "Velden en wegen", Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Nijmegen, 30.10-1.11.2024.
"The Purity of Ignorance? (Pseudo-)Naivety in Jacob van Lennep's Dagboek van mijne reis (1823)." 15th ALCS (Association for Low Countries Studies) Conference "Questioning the UN/KNOWN", University of Sheffield. Sheffield, 7.7.-9.7.2024.
"Poetics of Ignorance in Dutch literature around 1800." Amsterdam School of Historical Studies: "Historical literatures and textual cultures"-Research Group Session, Universiteit van Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 6 June 2024.
"'Uwe onkunde leren zien:' The Function of Not-Knowing in J.F. Martinet's Catechism of Nature (1777-1779)." Plenary lecture Docentenbijeenkomst of the Dutch Students' Association, Freie Universität Berlin. Berlin and Leipzig, 21-23 March 2024.
"Ethische besluitvorming als conflict: Johannes Nomsz's 'verlicht zinspel' Iemant en Niemant (1768) en de vroegmoderne geschiedenis van de figuur 'Niemand'." Jaarcongres Werkgroepen De Zeventiende Eeuw & De Achttiende Eeuw: "EMOTIES IN CONFLICT", University of Leiden. Leiden, 26 August 2022.
"Niet-Weten als gewetensvraag: Johannes Nomsz's drama Iemant en Niemant (1768)." 21e IVN (Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek)-Colloquium Neerlandicum, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Nijmegen, 22 August - 26 August 2022.
"Nicht-Wissen als Gewissensfrage: Johannes Nomszs Drama Iemant en Niemant (1768) und die frühmoderne Geschichte von 'Niemand' als allegorischer Figur zwischen englischem, deutschen und niederländischen Sprachraum." Rhine-Meuse Colloquium, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, 21 June 2022.
[accepted] "Hoe kennis een keuze werd: Rhijnvis Feiths en Johannes Kinkers Brieven van/aan Sophie (1806/07) als begin van een 'postfeitelijk' tijdperk." Achter de verhalen 8 "Vloeibare verhalen: Neerlandistiek onder laatmoderne condities", University of Leiden. Leiden, June 2020/June 2021 [Conference cancelled twice due to the corona pandemic].
"Can you feel facts? About literary narrating strategies in Dutch and Flemish popular histories at the beginning of the 21st century." 12th ALCS (Association for Low Countries Studies) Conference "Picturing Reality", University of Sheffield. Sheffield, 28 June - 30 June 2018.
"Natuur versus cultuur: verlies in het werk van Miek Zwamborn." Achter de verhalen 7 "De terugkeer van de geschiedenis", University of Antwerp. Antwerp, 18 April - 20 April 2018.
"Feeling the facts? Fictionalising narrative processes in contemporary historical narratives." Post-factual narration? International Conference on the 10th Anniversary of the Centre for Narrative Research, Bergische Universität Wuppertal. Wuppertal, 6.2.-8.2.2018.
"De representatie van onwetendheid in literaire teksten rond 1800." NLV (Niederlandist*innenverband)-Docentenbijeenkomst en Colloquium voor promovendi en habilitandi van de Duitstalige NeerlandistiekGoethe University Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt, 21.10-23.10.2016.
"Enlightenment light? About the interaction of German philosophical discourses and Dutch literary texts in the (late) eighteenth century." Section on Dutch-German cultural interactions, GSA (German Studies Association) Fortieth Annual Conference, University of San Diego. San Diego, 29 September - 2 October 2016.
"Snapshots of the Past: Reading the Present through the Past in Contemporary Factual Narratives." Reading the Present through the Past: Forms and Trajectories of Neo-Historical Fiction, Universiteit van Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 4 March 2016.
"Literatuur en geschiedenis: Over de verwerking van geschiedkundige kennis in fictionele verhalen." Panel 'Literatuur en kennis', 19e IVN (Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek)-Colloquium Neerlandicum, Universiteit Leiden. Leiden, 17 August - 21 August 2015.
"Speaking with the (nearly) dead: Fictionaliserende vertelstrategieën in de actuele geschiedschrijving." Achter de verhalen 5 "Terug naar de tekst?", Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Brussels, 26-28 March 2014.
"Through Time and Space: The Concept of Time Travel." Writing in Motion: Travel - Tourism - Transculturalism, Universiteit Gent. Ghent, 27.3.-29.3.2013.
Readings on the dissertation at the doctoral and habilitation colloquium of Dutch Studies in Germany and Austria (Universities of Duisburg-Essen, Berlin (FU), Oldenburg, Vienna, Münster, 2008-2013).
Readings for a wider audience
"Lyrical! Projectpresentatie en workshop ervaringsgericht literatuuronderwijs." 11th Colloquium of the Dutch Language Association, University of Oldenburg. Oldenburg, 6.3-7.3.2023. (with Alina Viermann).
"What is experience-orientated literature didactics?" Digital colloquium "Lyrical! Ervaringsgericht literatuuronderwijs", University of Münster. 28.9.2022.
"Lyrical! Literatuur in het NVT-onderwijs." 21e IVN (Internationale Vereniging voor Neerlandistiek)-Colloquium Neerlandicum, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Nijmegen, 22 August - 26 August 2022 (with Alina Viermann)
"Ervaringsgericht literatuuronderwijs." Study day Dutch, Lower Saxony State Institute for School Quality Development. Nordhorn, 9 June 2022.
"Lyrical! Learning Dutch with literature." Digital conference "Lyrical! Learning Dutch with literature", University of Münster. 7.10.2021.
"Farewell to the Father's Garden: Protestantism in Dutch Literature." On a Bicycle with God: A Tour through the Religious Literary Landscape of the Netherlands, Evangelische Akademie Frankfurt. Frankfurt am Main, 25 June 2016.
"Multatuli's Max Havelaar (1860) and Louis Couperus' De stille kracht (1900) as (post-?)colonial literature." Dutch reading school, Catholic-Social Academy Franz Hitze Haus. Münster, 23 August 2011.
Teaching
Lectures
Projects
"Poetics of the denial of knowledge in Dutch literature around 1800"
Habilitation project (University of Oldenburg)
"Lyrical! Learning Dutch with literature"
Project to promote the use of literature in Dutch lessons