Marita Mathijsen

Marita Mathijsen is Emeritus Professor in Dutch Literature at the University of Amsterdam and award-winning author. For her influential studies on nineteenth-century culture and literature, she received the Multatuli Prize (1991) and the Prince Bernhard Culture Prize for the Humanities (1998). Mathijsen writes columns and essays for leading Dutch papers and magazines. In her work and lectures, she pleads for a vivid writing style, also in academic studies, and against sensationalism in historical research. Her books De geest van de dichter (1990), De gemaskerde eeuw (2002) and De Nederlandse literatuur in de Romantiek (2004) introduced a large audience to nineteenth-century literature and culture. Her latest contribution, Historiezucht (2013), was selected as one of the best historical books of the year.