The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

(showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-Europea ...

and

Dutch literature Dutch language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, Be ...

. It contains thousands of literary texts, secondary literature and additional information, like biographies, portrayals etcetera, and hyperlinks. The DBNL is an initiative by the DBNL foundation that was founded in 1999 by the Society of Dutch Literature (Dutch:

Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde The Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (English "Society of Dutch Literature", often abbreviated ''MNL'') is a prestigious and exclusive literary society. The MNL was established in Leiden in 1766 and is still located there. At the moment, ...

). Building of the DNBL was made possible by donations, among others, from the

Dutch Organization for Scientific Research The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of ...

(Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek or NWO) and the Nederlandse Taalunie. From 2008 to 2012, the editor was René van Stipriaan. The work is done by eight people in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

(as of 2013: The Hague), 20 students, and 50 people in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

who scan and type the texts. As of 2020, the library is being maintained by a collaboration of the

Taalunie The Dutch Language Union (Dutch: , NTU) is an international regulatory institution that governs issues regarding the Dutch language. It is best known for its spelling reforms which are promulgated by member states, grammar books, the Green Boo ...

, Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheek (Flemish Libraries), and the

Royal Library of the Netherlands The Royal Library of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek or KB; ''Royal Library'') is the national library of the Netherlands, based in The Hague, founded in 1798. The KB collects everything that is published in and concerning the Ne ...

Basic library: 1,000 key texts

The DBNL contains (or will contain in the near future), the complete so called "basic library" (Dutch: "basisbibliotheek") 1,000 deemed "key" texts of the Dutch and

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

cultural history. The chairperson of the committee that selected the 1,000 key texts is

Paul Schnabel Paul Schnabel (born 17 July 1948) is a Dutch politician and sociologist who served on the Social and Economic Council (SER) from 2013 to 2015 and in the Senate on behalf of Democrats 66 (D66) from 2015 until 2019. Schnabel, a professor at Utrech ...

. Nevertheless, some classic texts of

, like

Gerard Reve Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (14 December 1923 – 8 April 2006) was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is ...

's 1947 novel ''The evenings'' (Dutch: ''

De avonden ''The Evenings: A Winter's Tale'' (Dutch: ''De avonden: Een winterverhaal'') is a debut novel by Dutch author Gerard Reve released in November 1947 under the pseudonym "Simon van het Reve". The novel describes ten evenings out of the life of the ...

'') and

Willem Frederik Hermans Willem Frederik Hermans (1 September 1921 – 27 April 1995) was a Dutch author of poetry, novels, short stories, plays, as well as book-length studies, essays, and literary criticism. His most famous works are ''The House of Refuge'' (novella, ...

' 1966 novel ''

Beyond Sleep ''Beyond Sleep'' ( nl, Nooit meer slapen, "Nevermore to Sleep") is a novel by the Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans, published in February 1966. The protagonist, Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf, has a geology dissertation in preparation, and ...

'' (Dutch: ''

Nooit meer slapen ''Beyond Sleep'' ( nl, Nooit meer slapen, "Nevermore to Sleep") is a novel by the Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans, published in February 1966. The protagonist, Dutch geologist Alfred Issendorf, has a geology dissertation in preparation, and ...

'') are missing because of copyright reasons.

References

*Translation from Dutch Wikipedia article
version 3 June 2007, 14:18

External links

* {{Authority control 1999 establishments in the Netherlands Book websites Dutch-language literature Dutch-language websites Dutch digital libraries Open-access archives