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François Haverschmidt.
François Haverschmidt, also written as HaverSchmidt (14 February 1835 in
Haverschmidt studied ''Het Oera Linda-boek – Aanklacht tegen christelijk fundamentalisme''
/ref> However, many of his contemporaries believed the book to be authentic. This would have prevented Haverschmidt and his collaborators (if they were indeed the authors of the supposedly millennia-old text) from unmasking their hoax, which consequently completely backfired. Haverschmidt became progressively more depressed, especially after his wife's death in 1891, and ultimately committed suicide in 1894.
Leeuwarden
Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Stadsfries dialects, Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Fri ...
– 19 January 1894 in Schiedam), was a Dutch minister and writer, who wrote prose under his own name but remains best known for the poetry published under the pen name of Piet Paaltjens.
Life and career
Haverschmidt studied 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 ...
theology at Leiden University, graduating in 1858. He successively became minister in Foudgum
Foudgum is a small village in Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. It had a population of around 72 as of January 2017. Before 2019, the village was part of the Dongeradeel
Dongeradeel (; fy, Dongeradiel ) is a former mun ...
, Den Helder and Schiedam.
During his student days, he had some of his poetry published in student magazines under the pen name of Piet Paaltjens, around whom a playful but elaborate mystification was created as Haverschmidt kept his poetry separate from his "serious" prose and sermons, not unlike Nicolaas Beets.
He became a prime suspect for being the anonymous author of the Oera Linda Book
The Oera Linda Book is a manuscript written in a form of Old Frisian, purporting to cover historical, mythological, and religious themes of remote antiquity, from 2194 BCE to 803 CE. Among academics in Germanic philology, the document is conside ...
, the inferred reason being a practical joke (a parody of the Bible to lampoon fundamentalist Christian
Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and ...
s)./ref> However, many of his contemporaries believed the book to be authentic. This would have prevented Haverschmidt and his collaborators (if they were indeed the authors of the supposedly millennia-old text) from unmasking their hoax, which consequently completely backfired. Haverschmidt became progressively more depressed, especially after his wife's death in 1891, and ultimately committed suicide in 1894.
Bibliography
As Piet Paaltjens
* '' Snikken en grimlachjes: poëzie uit den studententijd'' ("Sobs and Bitter Grins: Student-Days Poetry", 1867)As François Haverschmidt
* ''Familie en kennissen'' ("Relatives and Acquaintances",short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
, 1876)
* ''Uit geest en gemoed'' ("From Mind and Heart", sermon
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...
s, 1894)
* ''Uit den studententijd'' in Alexander Johan Berman: Landjuweel
As both
* ''Nagelaten snikken van Piet Paaltjens: poëzie en proza, tekeningen en curiosa uit de nalatenschap van François HaverSchmidt'' ("Posthumous Sobs of Piet Paaltjens: Poetry and Prose, Drawings and Curiosities from François HaverSchmidt's Estate", early poetry and prose and Paaltjens "outtakes", 1961)English translation
A section of ''Snikken en grimlachjes'' has been translated into English by Jacob Lowland as ''Everlastings (1850–1852)'' (Amsterdam: Aarts, 1982)External links
*References
1835 births 1894 deaths People from Leeuwarden Dutch male poets Suicides by hanging in the Netherlands 19th-century poets 19th-century male writers 1890s suicides {{Netherlands-writer-stub