Jacob Jan Cremer (1 September 18375 June 1880), birth name Jacobus and also known as J. J. Cremer, was a Dutch novelist.

Life

Cremer was born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

and started life as a painter, but soon exchanged the brush for the pen, although he also continued to paint, and for much of his adult life he lived in

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 ...

. His first

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

s, ''Betuwsche Novellen'' and ''Overbetuwsche Novellen'', were first published about 1855 and reprinted many times subsequently; they were also translated into German and French. These short stories of Dutch provincial life are written in the dialect of the

Betuwe Batavia (; , ) is a historical and geographical region in the Netherlands, forming large fertile islands in the river delta formed by the waters of the Rhine (Dutch: ''Rijn'') and Meuse (Dutch: ''Maas'') rivers. During the Roman empire, it was an ...

, the large flat

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

island, formed by the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

, the name recalling the presumed earliest inhabitants, the Batavi. In his later novels Cremer abandoned both the language and the love-stories of the Betuwe, depicting the Dutch life of other centres in the national tongue. The principal are: ''Anna Rooze'' (1867), ''Dokter Helmond en zijn Vrouw'' (1870), ''Hanna de Freule'' (1873), and ''Daniel Sils''. Cremer was less successful as a playwright, and his two comedies, ''Peasant and Nobleman'' and ''Emma Bertholt'', did not enhance his fame; nor did a volume of poems, published in 1873. He died in

. His collected novels were published 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 ...

. An English-language novel by

Albert Dresden Vandam Albert Dresden Vandam (1843–1903) was an English journalist and writer. Life Born in London in March 1843, the son of Mark Vandam, his background was Dutch-Jewish descent. Before he was 13 he was sent to Paris, where he was privately educated, a ...

, based on ''Anna Rooze'', was published in London (1877, 3 volumes) under the title of ''An Everyday Heroine''.

Assessment

According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, Cremer is strongest in his delineation of character. His picturesque humour, coming out most forcibly in his numerous readings of the Betuwe novelettes, soon procured him the name of the "Dutch

Fritz Reuter Fritz Reuter (7 November 1810 – 12 July 1874; born as ''Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter'') was a novelist from Northern Germany who was a prominent contributor to Low German literature. Early life Fritz Reuter was born at Stavenha ...

References

* {{EB1911 article with no significant updates 1837 births 1880 deaths 19th-century Dutch male writers Writers from The Hague