T.G. van der Meulen as (masterlik) komponist fan it figuerlike

Abstract

2006 is the centenary of the death of the writer Tjibbe Geerts van der
Meulen. Critics have agreed that he was unable to compose a story
adequately, comparing him unfavourably to Waling Dykstra, who was
supposed to be much better at composition. However, I will show that the
short story “Britting” has a neat composition and may be considered to be
one of the masterpieces of 19th-century literature, Dutch literature included.
Van der Meulen’s apparently wildly associative sidelines in his story will
turn out to exhibit a strong formal and symbolic cohesion. The two story
lines of Britting, the associations and digressions, all contribute to the
central theme of the story: a rather philosophical view of man in which
cynical truth is softened by humour and by a vital enjoyment of life’s
colourfulness. After that, I will analyse two more stories by van der Meulen,
which likewise exhibit a tight composition.