Elizabeth ("Betje") Wolff-Bekker (24 July 17385 November 1804) was a Dutch novelist who, with
Agatha "Aagje" Deken, wrote several popular
epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
s such as ''Sara Burgerhart'' (1782) and ''Willem Levend'' (1784).
Biography
Betje Bekker was born into a wealthy
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
family at
Vlissingen
Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...
. On 18 November 1759, at the age of 21, she married the 52-year-old clergyman Adriaan Wolff. In 1763 she published her first collection ''Bespiegelingen over het genoegen'' ('Reflections on Pleasure'). After her husband's death in 1777, she lived for a time with
Aagje Deken in France.
From then on the two women published their work together; it is somewhat difficult to determine the exact qualities contributed by each though many believe that Betje Wolff was the main author due to her wider acclaim before their pairing.
They specialized in
epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
s in the mold of
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...
.
Because of their
patriotic
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
sympathies they moved to
Trévoux
Trévoux (; frp, Trevôrs) is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Trévoltiens.
It is a suburb of Lyon, built on the steeply sloping left bank of the river Saône.
History
In AD 843, the treaty ...
in
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
in 1788. In
1789
Events
January–March
* January – Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès publishes the pamphlet ''What Is the Third Estate?'' ('), influential on the French Revolution.
* January 7 – The 1788-89 United States presidential election a ...
they published ''Wandelingen door Bourgogne''. She was exposed to some of the dangers of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, and, it is said, escaped the
guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...
only by her great presence of mind. More important though was her translation of the Swiss abolitionist Benjamin Sigismond Frossard in 1790. In 1795 she returned to the Netherlands, and resided at
the Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
till her death there at the age of 66.
Works
* ''Historie van Mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart'' (1782)
* ''Historie van den heer Willem Leevend'' (1784–1785)
* ''Abraham Blankaart'' (1787)
* ''Wandelingen door Bourgogne'' (1789)
* ''Cornelia Wildschut'' (1793–1796)
See also
*
Museum Betje Wolff
References
[This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: ]
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Betje
1738 births
1804 deaths
Dutch women novelists
People from Vlissingen
18th-century Dutch women writers
18th-century Dutch writers
18th-century Dutch novelists