Menno ter Braak (26 January 1902 – 14 May 1940) was a Dutch

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

writer,

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Early career

Ter Braak was born in

Eibergen Eibergen (Low Saxon: ''Eibarge'') is a town and former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Gelderland in the Eastern Netherlands. It is part of the Achterhoek cultural region. The administrative cooperation of about 20 municipalitie ...

and grew up in the town of

Tiel Tiel () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the middle of the Netherlands. The town is enclosed by the Waal (river), Waal river and the Linge river to the South and the North, and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal to the Eas ...

where he was an exemplary student. He went on to the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

where he majored in Dutch and History. He was a regular contributor to the student magazine Propria Cures and involved himself in the study of film (then a very young discipline). Together with

Joris Ivens Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are '' A Tale of the Wind'', ''The Spanish Earth'', ''Rain'', ''...A Valparaiso'', '' Misèr ...

, Menno ter Braak was also a founder of the ''Filmliga'' (Movie League), an organisation for the study of animated film. He completed a Ph.D. dissertation on the medieval emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

and consecutively worked as a teacher in a number of secondary schools, lastly in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

''Forum'' movement

In 1932 ter Braak, together with Eddy du Perron and , started the literary magazine ''Forum'' which proved to be one of the most important literary periodicals in the Dutch-speaking world (it expressly involved Flemish intellectuals as well) in the nineteen-thirties. ''Forum'' is widely considered a bulwark of cultural elitism, advocating a high cultural level of discourse, a rational form of literary criticism, consequent individualism and a stern disapproval of all intellectual ornamentation. “Vent boven vorm” (loosely translated: ‘personality over form’) was the catchword of the ''Forum'' movement, and

Multatuli Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March 182019 February 1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli (from Latin ''multa tulī'', "I have suffered much"), was a Dutch writer best known for his satirical novel ''Max Havelaar'' (1860), which denounced the a ...

was one of its most important paragons.

Political involvement

In 1933 ter Braak married Ant Faber, daughter of the social-democratic member of parliament and

reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Jan Lambertus Faber. They moved to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, where Ter Braak joined the Dutch liberal daily ''Het Vaderland'' (the Fatherland) as a literary affairs editor and was one of the first Dutchmen to understand the looming threat of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. It is in these years that he started ''het Comité van Waakzaamheid'' (the Committee for Vigilance). As a public

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

, he is most famous for his

essays An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

, most of which deal with

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, politics, or a mixture of the two. He is distinctly influenced by

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...

and his style is deliberately paradoxical.

Later writing

In his last, and best-known essays he chastises those who would subject themselves to "higher" and "spiritual" values, unmasking the hierarchies behind those values who are working to further their own agenda. Against this subjection to extraneous authorities and false values, ter Braak posits the individualist ideal of the ''honnête homme'', the "Man of Integrity" who will not conform himself to other people's expectations and systems. A born

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

ist, he managed to find himself a diverse group of opponents and by the end of his life had entered into polemics, some of which were hostile with the self-proclaimed representatives of what he considered to be "nebulous collectivisms" such as

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, liberal

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

Graf van Menno ter Braak op begraafplaats Oud Eik en Duinen te Den Haag

Death

Towards the end of his life he became increasingly involved in the growing

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

movement in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out in 1939 he fell into a deep depression. Four days after Nazi Germany had invaded the

, on 14 May 1940, the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

carpet-bombed his former hometown Rotterdam. Earlier that day, ter Braak and his wife had made a half-hearted attempt to find out if they could flee to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by boat from the port of

Scheveningen Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular ...

, only to learn that under the circumstances such a trip was prohibitively expensive. When the Dutch army's supreme command announced capitulation in the late afternoon, Menno and Ant ter Braak went to the house of Menno's brother Wim and Ant's half-sister Mineke, also in The Hague. There, Menno ter Braak committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

by using a sedative, combined with an injection of poison (most likely administered by his brother, who was a neurologist). Coincidentally, his friend du Perron died at about the same time from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

caused by

angina pectoris Angina, also known as angina pectoris, is chest pain or pressure, usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle (myocardium). It is most commonly a symptom of coronary artery disease. Angina is typically the result of part ...

. Menno ter Braak's influence remained fairly large and lasted well into the 1950s; during the fifties his influence began to wane but a number of literary periodicals, especially ''Libertinage'' and ''Tirade'' remained faithful to a number of ter Braak's ideas.

Bibliography

*1928 - ''Kaiser Otto III. Ideal und Praxis im frühen Mittelalter'' (Ph.D. dissertation) *1929 - ''Cinema militans'' (essay) *1930 - ''Het carnaval der burgers. Een gelijkenis in gelijkenissen'' (essay) (The Burghers' Carnival. A Parable in Parables) *1931 - ''De absolute film'' (essay) (The Absolute Film) *1931 - ''Afscheid van domineesland'' (essay) (Saying Goodbye to the Country of Pastors) *1931 - ''Hampton Court'' (novel) *1931 - ''Man tegen man'' (essay) (Man to Man) *1932 - ''Démasqué der schoonheid'' (essay) (Démasqué of Beauty) *1932-1935 - ''Forum'' Maandschrift voor letteren en kunst (magazine) (Forum, magazine for literature and the arts) *1933 - ''Dr. Dumay verliest...'' (novel) (Dr. Dumay Loses) *1934 - ''Politicus zonder partij'' (essay) (Politician without Party) *1935 - ''De pantserkrant. Een tragicomedie van wapens, schrijfmachines en idealen. Gevolgd door een brief aan een vijandin van het tooneel'' (play) (The Armoured Newspaper; a tragicomedy of Arms, Typewriters and Ideals, Followed by a Letter to an Enemy of the Theatre) *1935 - ''Het tweede gezicht'' (essays) (The Second Face) *1937 - ''Douwes Dekker en Multatuli'' (essay) (Douwes Dekker and

) *1937 - ''Van oude en nieuwe Christenen'' (essay) (Of Old and New Christians) *1937 - ''Het Christendom. Twee getuigenissen in polemische vorm'' (essays) (Christianity, two testimonies in polemical form) (with Anton van Duinkerken as co-author) *1937 - ''Het nationaal-socialisme als rancuneleer'' (essay) (National-Socialism as a Doctrine of Resentment) *1938 - ''In gesprek met de vorigen'' (essay) (Talking with the Predecessors) *1938 - ''Mephistophelisch'' (essay) (Mephistophelian) *1938 - ''De Augustijner monnik en zijn trouwe duivel'' (essay) (The Augustinian Monk and his loyal Devil) *1939 - ''De nieuwe elite'' (essay) (The New Elite) *1943 - ''De duivelskunstenaar. Een studie over S. Vestdijk'' (essay) (The Devil's artist, a study on S. Vestdijk) *1944 - ''Reinaert op reis'' (essays) (Reinaert on the Move) *1945 - ''Over waardigheid en macht. Politiek-cultureele kroniek'' (essay) (On Truth and Dignity, a political-cultural Chronicle) *1945 - ''Journaal 1939'' (diary) (Journal 1939) *1946 - ''In gesprek met de onzen (essay) (Talking to one's Own) *1949 - ''Briefwisseling Ter Braak - Du Perron. Een bloemlezing'' (Selected Correspondence between Ter Braak and Du Perron) *1949-1951 - ''Verzameld werk'' (seven volumes) (Collected Works) * 1962-1967 - ''Briefwisseling 1930-1940'' (correspondence) (Correspondence between Menno ter Braak and Edgar du Perron, four volumes) * 1965 - ''Het verraad der vlaggen (essays)'' (The Treason of the Flags) * 1978 - ''De Propria Curesartikelen. 1923-1925'' (The articles from ''Propria Cures'') * 1980 - ''De artikelen over emigrantenliteratuur. 1933-1940'' (Articles on Migrant Literature) * 1992 - De draagbare Ter Braak (The Portable ter Braak)

References

External links

*
Forum (complete texts from ''Forum'')
*
DBNL auteur - Menno ter Braak
at Digital Library for Dutch Literature
Menno ter Braak Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braak, Menno ter 1902 births 1940 suicides 1940 deaths People from Berkelland People from Tiel Dutch male writers Modernism Modernist writers University of Amsterdam alumni Drug-related suicides in the Netherlands