author
Johan de Meester
1860–1931
A keen observer of literary change, he helped bring newer currents in Dutch writing into public view while building a career as a novelist, critic, and journalist. His work moved between fiction and commentary, giving him a distinct place in the Netherlands' literary world around the turn of the twentieth century.
1 Audiobook
Geertje
by Johan de Meester
About the author
Born in Harderwijk on February 6, 1860, and later dying in Utrecht on May 16, 1931, Johan de Meester was the pen name of Eliza Johannes de Meester. He worked as a journalist and literary critic as well as an author, and sources consistently describe him as an important Dutch literary figure of his time.
Early in his career he worked in journalism in Amsterdam and spent time in Paris as a correspondent for the Algemeen Handelsblad. He later became art editor of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, where he was known for paying serious attention to newer literary movements and for defending the writers of the 1880s generation.
De Meester also wrote novels, including Een huwelijk from 1890, a book noted for the influence of French naturalism. He went on to hold editorial roles with major Dutch literary journals, including De Nieuwe Gids and De Gids, and is remembered as a writer whose fiction and criticism both reflected the tensions between innovation and tradition in Dutch literature.