Willem de Clercq

Willem de Clercq ( born January 15, 1795 in Amsterdam, † February 4, 1844 ) was a Dutch writer.

Life and work

His most important work, first published in 1822, is the autobiography "Diary " ( original title: " Dagboek "). In it, he describes his life from 1805 until his "death". Here the reader about the cultural and intellectual currents during the Restoration period in the Netherlands is completely an overview.

Until he was 22 years old was his great literary model Friedrich Schiller, whose dramas he already admired the age of sixteen and he often commented with his words and his trip to St. Petersburg (1816 /17). This most interesting part of the diary ( the only one Willem de Clercq even intended for publication ) reported soon mockingly, sometimes amazed by the scenic, cultural and social peculiarities, had to stand out after the Napoleonic wars, a Dutchman in Northern Germany and Russia. Its strong local ties ( love of truth has guided me, but the direction of the heart expresses itself again and again with irresistible force in what we write. ) Lets him practice some sharp criticism. The Germans, he accuses bias and national conceit, in Russia, however, he finds fault with the social relations.

Quotes

• Truth love has guided me, but the direction of the heart expresses itself again and again with irresistible force in what we write.
• What freedom of thought and principles in terms of a state, where most of the residents as cattle are sold and where a hint of the sovereign can move the subject forever free from the circle of his family and friends, which can be clearly imagine.