‘Toongeefster van den goeden smaak’ - De Hollandsche Maatschappij van Fraaije Kunsten en Wetenschappen, 1813-1833

Abstract

During de second half of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century the literary societies were the most influential authorities in the literary life. They were the places where the debates about the function and purpose of literature were hold. After the thirties they lost their position to the cultural and literary magazines. This article concentrates on the Hollandsche Maatschappij van Fraaije Kunsten en Wetenschappen, founded in 1800 and one of the most prominent literary authorities in the North Netherlands. The Hollandsche Maatschappij was an ‘arbiter of taste’, especially in the years 1813-1833, after the French annexation period. Focusing on the texts that are written within the context of this literary society will make a valuable contribution to a better understanding of the prevailing poetical ideas about literature in the first part of the nineteenth century.