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| Van Nu en Straks | |
|---|---|
| Title | Van Nu en Straks |
| Category | Literary magazine |
| Frequency | Periodical |
| Firstdate | 1888 |
| Finaldate | 1901 |
| Country | Belgium |
| Language | Dutch |
Van Nu en Straks was a Flemish literary and artistic movement centered on a namesake periodical active in Belgium in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It brought together poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, painters and critics who sought renewal in Flemish literature, Belgian art and cultural life, linking regional revival to broader European currents such as Symbolism, Modernism, and the Aesthetic movement. The movement's contributors engaged with contemporaries across Paris, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent and intersected with developments around institutions such as the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and salons associated with figures like Émile Verhaeren and Maurice Maeterlinck.
The periodical emerged in the context of late-19th-century debates involving personalities from Leuven, Ghent University, University of Amsterdam circles and artists connected to Les XX and the La Libre Esthétique exhibitions. Founding figures drew inspiration from international models including The Yellow Book, The Savoy and the journals of Stephane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Its origins were shaped by regional issues involving linguistic activism around Flemish Movement, contemporaneous with political figures such as Johan Rudolph Thorbecke and Pieter De Coninck-era municipal cultural politics; cultural institutions like the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts (Antwerp) and publishing houses including G. Bentham, Elsevier and Lucebert-era successors influenced distribution. Early issues reflected dialogues with international critics like Joris-Karl Huysmans, Oscar Wilde, Gustave Flaubert and philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche.
Major contributors included writers and artists associated with Belgium and the Low Countries such as Stijn Streuvels, Hendrik Conscience, Karel van de Woestijne, Maurits Sabbe, Lodewijk De Koninck and Eugène Demolder. Poets and essayists like Albert Verwey, Hendrik de Velde, Emile Verhaeren, Gabriël De Smaele and Maurice Maeterlinck participated in correspondence and literary networks. Painters and illustrators affiliated with the group or its milieu included James Ensor, Théo van Rysselberghe, Fernand Khnopff, Henri De Braekeleer, Gustave Van de Woestijne, Paul Delvaux, Constant Permeke and Félix Vallotton. Editors, critics and translators who shaped discourse included Max Elskamp, Pol de Mont, Karel van de Woestijne, August Vermeylen, Leo Van Doeselaar and bibliophiles connected to François Coppens-style collectors. International interlocutors and correspondents encompassed Jules Laforgue, Paul Bourget, Rudolf Steiner, Edmond de Goncourt and Ivan Goll.
The movement emphasized themes aligned with Symbolism, including explorations of interiority, myth, spirituality and the unconscious found in works linked with early psychoanalytic discussions by figures such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Aesthetic concerns referenced Pre-Raphaelitism and dialogues with Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Pointillism and early Expressionism as seen in comparisons to Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat and Edvard Munch. Recurring motifs included rural life in the tradition of Boerenerf, urban modernity akin to Parisian moderns like Émile Zola, religious and mystical currents tied to Catholic Revival personalities and folkloric revival associated with collections like those by Jacob Grimm and Johan de Meester. Formal experimentation engaged with narrative innovation à la James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert and lyric refinement comparable to Charles Baudelaire.
The periodical published poetry, prose, drama, essays and visual reproductions, and issued occasional manifestos and programmatic statements influenced by pamphleteering traditions seen in publications such as Die Aktion, The Yellow Nineties, Der Sturm and Svenska Dagbladet-era critiques. Contributors referenced theoretical texts by Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Pater, John Ruskin and manifestos from Symbolist Manifesto-style declarations popularized by Jean Moréas. The magazine's editorial practices paralleled those of Mercure de France, La Revue Blanche, De Nieuwe Gids and Het Getij, while engaging printers and publishers from networks involving Lemonnier, Scheltema, G. A. van Oorschot and small presses linked to bibliophile societies in Brussels and Antwerp.
The movement influenced later Flemish literature and Belgian art movements including Interbellum literature, De School van Latem, Flemish Expressionism, De Stijl-adjacent dialogues and modernist trajectories in Dutch literature. Its aesthetic legacy can be traced through 20th-century figures such as Hugo Claus, Louis Paul Boon, Paul van Ostaijen, René Magritte and institutional developments at places like the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and university departments at KU Leuven and Ghent University. Cross-border influence reached Amsterdam School architects, Czech avant-garde circles including Devětsil, and connections with Paris salons fostered reception by critics at Le Figaro and scholarly attention in journals like Modern Language Review. Collecting and exhibition histories involved curators from Musée d'Orsay, Stedelijk Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent and auction houses such as Sotheby's.
Contemporaneous and later critics debated the movement's elitism, perceived provincialism, and occasional alignment with conservative cultural nationalism seen in disputes involving figures like Johan De Meester and polemics in newspapers such as De Standaard and Het Volk. Accusations of aestheticism over social commitment prompted rebuttals referencing Marxist-influenced critics, polemics echoing debates with Naturalism proponents like Émile Zola, and tensions with Flemish activists tied to parties such as Christene Volkspartij and broader cultural politics involving Belgian Revolution anniversaries. Scholarly reassessment has involved historians at Royal Library of Belgium, critics writing for De Groene Amsterdammer and archival work preserved in collections at Letterenhuis and the European Cultural Foundation.