Van ‘onderlinge hulp’ naar ‘onkunde en vooroordeel’

Abstract

From ‘mutual aid’ to ‘ignorance and prejudice’. Changes in literary representations of adversity in the countryside, 1850-1914. In nineteenth-century Dutch village tales, rural communities often face adversity due to natural hazards. However, representations of (dealing with) adversity change over time. In early village tales (ca. 1850-1885), natural hazards are portrayed as unavoidable, whereas some early twentieth-century village tales emphasise the importance of risk management. Moreover, communities in later village tales might more often resort to blame in the context of natural calamities. This article argues that the changing attitude towards adversity can be linked to the late-nineteenth-century agricultural crisis in Europe, caused by cheap import of agricultural products from the United States and Canada, which lead to an increasing rationalisation of the Dutch countryside.