author
Gerrit Kalff
1856–1923
A leading Dutch scholar of literature, he helped shape how readers understood the history of writing in the Netherlands. His work ranged from major literary histories to essays on culture, art, and the life of the mind.
1 Audiobook
Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche letterkunde, Deel I
by Gerrit Kalff
About the author
Born in Zwolle on June 30, 1856, Gerrit Kalff became one of the Netherlands' best-known literary historians and scholars of Dutch language and literature. He studied at Leiden University and later taught at Utrecht before returning to Leiden, where he served as professor of Dutch literature and, for a time, rector magnificus.
Kalff is especially remembered for his large-scale studies of Dutch literary history, including Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche letterkunde, which aimed to trace the development of literature across centuries. He also wrote on broader cultural subjects, showing an interest not just in texts themselves but in the ideas, society, and artistic life around them.
He died on August 31, 1923, at Sassnitz in Germany. For readers today, Kalff remains an important guide to Dutch literary tradition: a careful, wide-ranging critic whose books helped give that tradition a clear historical shape.