Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm

The Dutch novelist, prose-poet, and literary critic Karel Joan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm was better known under his pen name Lodewijk van Deyssel. His first publication appeared in 1881 in the magazine of his father, the writer, poet, bookseller, and publisher Joseph Alberdingk Thijm (1820-1889).

From 1882-89, Lodewijk worked for the weekly De Amsterdammer. Since 1885, he also contributed to De Nieuwe Gids, the literary journal of the “Beweging van Tachtig” (“The Eighties Movement”), a literary group to which he belonged. Following a quarrel with one of the other authors of this journal, Alberdingk Thijm/van Deyssel wrote the pamphlet Over literatuur (About Literature). In 1894, he founded the Tweemaandelijks Tijdschrift together with Albert Verwey and remained its editor after it was continued under the name De Twintigste Eeuw. In 1905, Alberdingk Thijm eventually founded the Society of Literature, a writers’ professional association.

Initially attracted to French naturalism, he turned away from it with his book De dood van het naturalism (The Death of Naturalism, 1891). Later, he addressed the mystical values of life. He was also known for his razor-sharp and ironic critiques. Alberdingk Thijm/van Deyssel wrote Een Liefde (A Love) in 1887, considered one of the first successful Dutch naturalistic novels. His contemporaries were shocked, as it described a sexually tinged experience of the main female character.