The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty ( nl, Beweging van Tachtig), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked together in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

from the 1880s. Many of them are still widely read today. The Tachtigers were so named simply because they became active around the year 1880. The movement was based on revolt against what the Tachtigers perceived as the formalistic and overly wrought style of mainstream literature in their day, particularly as favored by the predominant literary journal in Amsterdam, '' De Gids'' (''The Guide''). The Tachtigers instead insisted that style must match content, and that intimate and visceral emotions can only be expressed using an intimate and visceral writing style. For guidance in this effort, they tended to draw inspiration from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, and from the then recent Impressionist painters and Naturalist writers. After ''De Gids'' continued to reject most of their submissions, the Tachtigers founded their own competing literary journal, mockingly called ''

De Nieuwe Gids ''De Nieuwe Gids'' (meaning ''The New Guide'' in English) was a Dutch illustrated literary periodical which was published from 1885 to 1943. It played an important role in promoting the literary movement of the 1880s. Its contents covered a wide ...

'' (''The New Guide''), first published in October 1885. Two of the founding editors and frequent contributors were the poet and critic

Willem Kloos Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of ''De Nieuwe Gids'' after the ed ...

and the poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden, both of whom are widely regarded today as canonical greats of Dutch literature. The other three founding editors were F. van der Goes, Willem Paap, and Albert Verwey. Other prominent Tachtigers whose works appeared in ''De Nieuwe Gids'' include the literary critic

Lodewijk van Deyssel Lodewijk van Deyssel was the pseudonym of Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm (22 September 1864, Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague ...

and the poet

Herman Gorter Herman Gorter (26 November 1864, Wormerveer – 15 September 1927, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels) was a Dutch poet and socialist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in ...

, author of the epic poem '' Mei'', who is probably the most widely read Tachtiger. He went on to become a founding member of the Social Democratic Party and was a prominent theoretician of the social democratic and council communist movements. Another prominent novelist,

Louis Couperus Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological and historical novels, novellas, short stories, fairy tales, feuilletons and s ...

, published his first novel in 1889 and was deeply influenced by the Tachtigers. He is often counted as a Tachtiger, although he was outside the Amsterdam social circle of the true Tachtigers.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Lit-mov-stub Dutch literature 19th-century literature