Lodewijk van Deyssel

Lodewijk van Deyssel (born Sept. 22, 1864, Amsterdam, Neth.—died Jan. 26, 1952, Haarlem) was a leading Dutch writer and critic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The son of J.A. Alberdingk Thijm (who promoted a Roman Catholic cultural revival in the Netherlands), he joined the largely agnostic individualistic group associated with the avant-garde literary magazine De Nieuwe Gids (“The New Guide”). His passionate critical writings were published as Verzamelde opstellen, 11 vol. (1894–1911; “Collected Essays”). He began writing as an admirer of Émile Zola and published a naturalistic novel, Een liefde (1887; “A Love Affair”). Later he abandoned naturalism and wrote highly personal impressionistic prose and clever, somewhat overwrought “prose-verses.” A sensitive artist with great powers of observation and a keen eye for detail, he was a powerful influence on Dutch literature, as both an original and a critical writer, for many years.