Commemorating Tollens: Cultural Nationalism, Literary Heritage, and Dutch National Identity

Abstract

This article discusses the celebrations and memorial activities that underscore the importance of Hendrik Tollens (1780–1856) as a national symbol in the light of cultural nationalism, nation building, and national identity formation. By examining the sociocultural features that Tollens (and his work) represented and the hero worship of this poet in particular, it becomes possible to interpret such collective adoration as being indicative of the specific role of literature as a medium of communal identity formation. Accordingly, this article argues that the rise and fall of Tollens’ reputation as a national poet can be used as a model to describe the various phases that Dutch nationalism went through over the course of the nineteenth century.