Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde
ISSN 0040-7550
| Algemene informatie | Aflevering 120-1 (maart 2004) | Archief | Binnenkort in dit tijdschrift | Richtlijnen voor auteurs |
Anna de Haas
Venus en Neptunus, of Het scheeps leven (1714) van Cornelis van der Gon
Abstract -- In 1714, Cornelis van der Gon, a very minor poet, published Het scheeps leven [The naval life], a comedy that was never performed, but made it to at least five editions. Van der Gon, who claims that the play is true to life, paints a lively picture of stealing, swearing, fighting, drinking and loose sex. The play is full of sexually ambiguous (and not so ambiguous) language, but, uncharacteristically for that time, lacks a moral. To contemporary readers, it probably was simply a juicy text with an attractive amount of (amoral) realism, whose possibly serious message could be ignored: the once glorious Dutch fleet is going under in booze and debauchery.
TNTL 120-2 (juni 2004), 113-131