The Huizinga Lecture (Dutch: ''Huizingalezing'') is an annual lecture in the Netherlands about a subject in the domains of cultural history or philosophy.See

. The lecture is in honour of

Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two y ...

, a distinguished Dutch historian (1872–1945) who worked in the first half of the 20th century. The Lecture is organized by nationwide daily general newspaper

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

, the Faculty of Humanities of

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, and the ''Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde'' (Society of Dutch Literature). Attendance at the lecture was free of charge for subscribers to NRC Handelsblad, members of the Faculty of Humanities, and members of the ''Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde'' until 2010. From 2011 onwards tickets have to be bought. The lecture is held alternately by a Dutch and a non-Dutch

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

. The Huizinga Lecture started in 1972 and is held annually in December in the Pieterskerk in Leiden, The Netherlands.

Lectures

This is a complete list of the Huizinga Lectures from the beginning in 1972 to the present date. *1972:

Rudy Kousbroek Herman Rudolf "Rudy" Kousbroek (1 November 1929 – 4 April 2010) was a Dutch poet, translator, writer and first of all essayist. He was a prominent figure in Dutch cultural life between 1950 and 2010 and one of the most outspoken atheists in the ...

– ''Ethologie en cultuurfilosofie'' (Ethology and cultural philosophy) *1973: Mary McCarthy – ''Can There Be a Gothic Literature?'' *1974:

Jan Pen Jan Pen (15 February 1921 in Lemmer – 14 February 2010 in Haren, Groningen, Haren) was a Dutch economist, professor and columnist. He is author of several books on economics. Life and work Pen studied at the University of Amsterdam, where in 19 ...

– ''De cultuur, het geld en de mensen'' (Civilization, money and the people) *1975:

Jean-François Revel Jean-François Revel (born Jean-François Ricard; 19 January 192430 April 2006) was a French philosopher, journalist, and author. A prominent public intellectual, Revel was a socialist in his youth but later became a prominent European propo ...

– ''La tentation totalitaire'' (The totalitarian temptation) *1976:

Arthur Lehning Paul Arthur Müller-Lehning (23 October 1899, in Utrecht – 1 January 2000, in Lys-Saint-Georges) was a Dutch author, historian and anarchist. Arthur Lehning wrote noted French translations of Mikhail Bakunin. In 1992 he won the Gouden Ganzen ...

– ''Over vrijheid en gelijkheid'' (On liberty and equality) *1977:

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

– ''Intellectuals and the State'' *1978:

Karel van het Reve Karel van het Reve (19 May 1921 – 4 March 1999) was a Dutch writer, translator and literary historian, teaching and writing on Russian literature. He was born in Amsterdam and was raised as a communist. He lost his 'faith' in his twentie ...

– ''Literatuurwetenschap: het raadsel der onleesbaarheid'' (Literary studies. The enigma of unreadability) *1979:

Golo Mann Golo Mann (born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann; 27 March 1909 – 7 April 1994) was a popular German historian and essayist. Having completed a doctorate in philosophy under Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg, in 1933 he fled Hitler's Germany. He followe ...

– ''1914-1980: Ein Ueberblick (1914–1980, In vogelvlucht)'' (The period 1914-1980 seen with a birds-eye view) *1980: Ernst Kossmann – ''Over conservatisme'' (On Conservatism) *1981: Stefan Themerson – ''The Chair of Decency'' *1982: Renate Rubinstein – ''Links en rechts in de politiek en in het leven'' (Left and right in politics and life) *1983:

Robert Darnton Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New York ...

– ''The Meaning of Mother Goose'' *1984:

Harry Mulisch Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch ( ; 29 July 1927 – 30 October 2010) was a Dutch writer. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections. Mulisch's works have been translated into over thirty languages. Along with Wi ...

– ''Het Ene'' (The unifying principle) *1985:

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

– ''1945: End of an Era?'' *1986:

Huib Drion Huib Drion (The Hague, 25 April 1917 – 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 t ...

– ''Eliteproblemen'' (Elite problems) *1987:

George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...

– ''Through a Glass Darkly'' *1988:

Peter Schat Peter Ane Schat (5 June 1935, in Utrecht – 3 February 2003, in Amsterdam) was a Dutch composer. Schat studied composition with Kees van Baaren at the Utrecht Conservatoire and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague from 1952 until 1958, and then ...

– ''Adem, een vergelijking'' (Breath, a metaphor) *1989:

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

– ''Traditions of the New or: Must We Be Modern?'' *1990:

Gerrit Komrij Gerrit Jan Komrij (30 March 1944 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his ...

– ''Over de noodzaak van tuinieren'' (On the imperative of gardening) *1991:

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...

– ''In Praise of Clio'' *1992: E. de Jongh – ''Kunst en het vruchtbare misverstand'' (Art and the fruitful misunderstanding) *1993: Christian von Krockow – ''Schwierige Nähe. Zur Geschichte und Zukunft der Deutsch-Niederländischen Beziehungen'' (Hard neighborship: On the history and future of Dutch-German relations) *1994: A.Th. van Deursen – ''Huizinga en de geest der eeuw'' (Huizinga and the spirit of the age) *1995:

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...

– ''Our Century'' *1996:

Henk Wesseling Henk Wesseling (6 August 1937 – 18 August 2018) was a Dutch historian. He was a professor of contemporary history at Leiden University, former rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study between 1995 and 2002. Biography Wesselin ...

– ''Zoekt Prof. Huizinga eigenlijk niet zichzelf? Huizinga en de geest van de jaren dertig'' (Is prof. Huizinga as a matter of fact in search of his own self? Huizinga and the spirit of the thirties) *1997: Richard Holmes – ''Biography and Death'' *1998:

Louise Fresco Louise Ottilie Fresco (born 11 February 1952) is a Dutch scientist and writer known for her work on globally sustainable food production. Career in academia Fresco has been the President of the Wageningen University & Research Executive Board s ...

– ''Schaduwdenkers en Lichtzoekers'' (Shadow thinkers and Light seekers) *1999:

Jorge Semprún Jorge Semprún Maura (; 10 December 1923 – 7 June 2011) was a Spanish writer and politician who lived in France most of his life and wrote primarily in French. From 1953 to 1962, during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Semprún lived clande ...

– ''Einde van de eeuw, begin van een millennium'' (End of a century. Beginning of a millennium) *2000:

Ian Buruma Ian Buruma (born December 28, 1951) is a Dutch writer and editor who lives and works in the United States. In 2017, he became editor of ''The New York Review of Books'', but left the position in September 2018. Much of his writing has focused on ...

– ''De neo-romantiek van schrijvers in exil'' (Neoromanticism of writers in exile) *2001:

Wendy Doniger Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...

– ''Homo Ludens and Gallows Humor about the Holocaust and Terrorism'' *2002:

Benno Barnard Benno may refer to: People Mononym * (927–940), saint * (1049–1061) *Benno I of Osnabrück (bishop, 1052–1067) *Benno of Meissen (bishop, 1066–1106), saint *Benno II of Osnabrück (bishop, 1068–1088) *Benno of Santi Martino e Silvestro ( ...

– ''Tegen de draad van de tijd: over de ware aard van Europa'' (Against the thread of the times. On the true nature of Europe) *2003:

Abram de Swaan Abram de Swaan (; born 8 January 1942) is a Dutch essayist, sociology, sociologist and professor emeritus from the University of Amsterdam. In 1996, he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected a member ...

– ''Moord en de Staat'' (Murder and the State) *2004: A. S. Byatt – ''From Soul to Heart to Psyche to Personality'' *2005: Elmer Schönberger – ''Het grote luisteren'' (The big listening) *2006:

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christophe ...

– ''The Two Traditions: La Mancha and Waterloo'' *2007:

Tijs Goldschmidt Paul-Tijs (Tijs) Goldschmidt (born 30 January 1953 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch writer and evolutionary biologist. Since 1 March 2012, Goldschmidt is writer in residence of the Artis Bibliotheek, which is part of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). G ...

– ''Doen alsof je doet alsof'' (Pretending to be pretending) *2008:

Christopher Bayly Sir Christopher Alan Bayly, FBA, FRSL (18 May 1945 – 18 April 2015) was a British historian specialising in British Imperial, Indian and global history. From 1992 to 2013, he was Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at th ...

– ''The Age of Revolution in the Wider World, 1780–1830, and Its Heritage'' *2009:

Marita Mathijsen Marita Theodora Catharina Mathijsen-Verkooijen (born 8 August 1944 in Belfeld) is professor of modern Dutch literature at the University of Amsterdam, with her speciality as the literature of the nineteenth century in the Netherlands. Mathijsen g ...

- ''Historische sensatiezucht. Over de moraal van de geschiedenis'' (Historical sensation seeking. On the moral of history.) *2010:

Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine (née Bronowski; 12 April 1944 – 25 October 2015) was a British historian of the early modern period. From 1990 to 2011, she was Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and ...

- ''The Aftermath of Homo Ludens: From Huizinga to Zemon Davis and beyond'' *2011:

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fir ...

- ''What happened to the idea of toleration?'' *2012: Geert van Istendael – ''De parochie van Sint-Precarius'' (The parish of St. Precarius) *2013: Bas Heijne - ''De betovering van de wereld'' (The enchantment of the world) *2014: Fik Meijer -''Denken over Carthago. De erfenis van Duilius'' *2015: Johan Tollebeek - ''De paarden van Waterloo'' *2016:

Ton Koopman Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orches ...

- ''Bach en zijn zangers'' *2017: Antoine Bodar - ''Leven alsof God bestaat'' *2018: Jolande Withuis - ''Leve het Leven. Over vrijheid en de biografie'' *2019:

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands. Life and work Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...

- ''Het Onverantwoordelijke Gebaar - of ga terug naar waar jij vandaan komt'' *2020:

Maxim Februari Maxim Februari, pseudonym of Maximiliaan (Max) Drenth (born 23 February 1963), is a Dutch writer, philosopher and columnist. Life and work Februari studied law, philosophy and history of art at Utrecht University. His first novel (''De zonen ...

- ''Slechte kunst'' *2021:

David Van Reybrouck David Grégoire Van Reybrouck (born 11 September 1971, in Bruges) is a Belgian cultural historian, archaeologist and author. He writes historical fiction, literary non-fiction, novels, poetry, plays and academic texts. He has received several Du ...

- ''De kolonisatie van de toekomst''

Sources

Homepage Huizinga Lecture Leiden University
*''Alle cultuur is streven. De verzamelde Huizinga-lezingen 1972-1986'' (All culture is aspiration. The collected Huizinga Lectures 1972-1986) (with an introduction by H.L. Wesseling), Amsterdam: Bert Bakker 1987

Notes

{{reflist Culture in Leiden Lecture series Recurring events established in 1972 Entertainment events in the Netherlands Winter events in the Netherlands