Diederik Oostdijk | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (original) (raw)
Books by Diederik Oostdijk
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019
The Netherlands Carillon stands out in the American memorial landscape. Situated between Arlingto... more The Netherlands Carillon stands out in the American memorial landscape. Situated between Arlington National Cemetery and the Marine Corps War Memorial, the modernist design of this 127-foot steel bell tower is strangely at odds with its surroundings, much in the same way that its prominent place is at odds with its absence in American memory. In this book, Diederik Oostdijk reveals the intriguing history of this major monument hidden in plain sight.
Given to the United States in the 1950s by the Dutch government as a gesture of gratitude for America’s role in the Dutch liberation during World War II and for the Marshall Plan aid that helped rebuild the Dutch economy, the carillon owes its conspicuous placement to the Cold War. Oostdijk traces the history of this monument, from its creation and the pageantry surrounding its presentation through its fall into disrepair and plans for its renewal. In so doing, he resolves the paradox of the carillon’s placement in Arlington and unearths a fascinating and compelling story of diplomacy and humanity.
Interweaving art history, campanology, landscape architecture, literature, musicology, and diplomatic history, Bells for America recounts how the Netherlands and the United States reconstructed their national identities and fostered an international relationship in the postwar era through public art.
In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostdijk gi... more In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostdijk gives voice to the literary men still considered to be a part of the Silent Generation. Focusing not only on soldier poets, but also on conscientious objectors and those deemed unfit for military service, Among the Nightmare Fighters sheds light on the struggles faced by writers—including Randall Jarrell, Anthony Hecht, Robert Lowell, Howard Nemerov, William Stafford and others—from the onset of the U.S. involvement in the war in Europe to the painful physical and psychological aftereffects soldiers carried with them following their service years.
Enriched with extensive historical and personal background information drawn from the poets' archives, Oostdijk's study explores the internal confusion expressed by the World War II poets who felt overshadowed by the past generation of Great War poets in their own conflicts with notions of identity, manhood, and the haunting aftermath of war. Collectively their poems form an important and sobering antidote to the sometimes overly positive celebrations of the Good War and the Greatest Generation, recapturing some of the anxiety, frustration, and bitter sadness that the war years also occasioned.
Oostdijk demonstrates the importance of appreciating these men not only as a collective literary group, but also as solitary writers experiencing the hardships and adversities of war on an individual level. He emphasizes each author's distinctive perceptions of the disasters they witnessed and the conflicts they witnessed—such as Karl Shapiro's struggle with his Jewish identification, James Dickey's fascination with the meaning and projection of manhood, Nemerov's perception of war's effect on American society, and Ciardi's preoccupation with traumatizing combat memories. A factor that connected these men in their responses to war was their overreaching efforts to identify as individuals and not merely as blurred faces among the myriad combatants, a goal that Oostdijk acknowledges in recognizing the unique experiences of his subjects as key to interpreting their poetry.
Among the Nightmare Fighters has both literary and historical merits as a means to comprehend in a more detailed manner the events that took place on the battlefields and the home front and the psychological effects World War II had on the returning American soldiers. Oostdijk's study echoes with the whispers of these American poets and recognizes the significance their work had on literary history in their time and since.
Book Reviews by Diederik Oostdijk
Peace Review, Jan 1, 2009
The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry, Tim Kendall, ed. (New York: Oxford Universit... more The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry, Tim Kendall, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). ... Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront Since 1941, Philip Metres (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007).
English Studies, Jan 1, 2010
Plus d'un million de titres à notre catalogue ! ... Date de parution : 01-2009 Langue : ANGL... more Plus d'un million de titres à notre catalogue ! ... Date de parution : 01-2009 Langue : ANGLAIS 280p. Disponible chez l'éditeur (délai d'approvisionnement : 10 jours). ... Chronology, Introduction Marina MacKay, Part I. Anglo-American Texts and Contexts: 1. War poetry in Britain Adam ...
English Studies, Jan 1, 2011
Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Jan 1, 2011
Articles by Diederik Oostdijk
Miriam Katin’s two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006). Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Le... more Miriam Katin’s two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006).
Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Letting It Go [(2013). Montreal:
Drawn & Quarterly] both reflect on how the trauma of the
Holocaust can be transformed through and in art. In the former
Katin details how she and her mother narrowly escape the Nazi
occupation of Hungary by fleeing to the countryside when she
was a toddler, while the latter shows how Katin, who has since
emigrated to the United States, is still struggling with anxieties
decades after, which are the result of the Holocaust. Using
insights from both memory studies and Bessel Van Der Kolk’s
experimental psychological theories that trauma is an embodied
experience and that it can be partly released through physical and
creative practices, this essay argues that Katin finds solace
through the multimodal activity of drawing and writing herself
out of the negative aftereffects that the Holocaust have on her.
In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) ... more In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) at Amherst College. Merrill was an undergraduate student who had just returned from World War II, while Lodeizen was a graduate student in biology. Lodeizen was the first international poet Merrill met and the slightly older Dutch poet became a model for a how a gay poet could eke out his poetics. Merrill visited Lodeizen shortly before Lodeizen’s death of leukemia in Lausanne while Merrill was on a sojourn through Europe that would keep him away from the United States for more than a decade. Merrill has admitted that Lodeizen’s death was his “first deeply felt death,” but the true extent of Lodeizen’s legacy has never been explored fully. This paper analyzes how and why the memory of Hans Lodeizen lingered all through Merrill’s career.
Upon further review: sports in American literature, Jan 1, 2004
The Football Elegies of James Dickey and Randall Jarrell: Hegemonic Masculinity versus the&#x... more The Football Elegies of James Dickey and Randall Jarrell: Hegemonic Masculinity versus the'Semifeminine Mind' Diederik Oostdijk In 1966, Life magazine featured a lengthy article on the poet James Dickey (1923-1997) called" The Unlikeliest Poet," which gave Dickey's ...
English Studies, Jan 1, 2007
English Studies, Jan 1, 2000
... Major publications by more or less received names, such as Robinson Jeffers, Robert Penn Warr... more ... Major publications by more or less received names, such as Robinson Jeffers, Robert Penn Warren, William Carlos Williams, and special issues devoted ... Soon Rich sent Shapiro two poems, 'The Rain of Blood' and 'Mathilde in Normandy', pub-lished in January 1951, which are ...
Neophilologus, Jan 1, 2006
The American soldier-poet Karl Shapiro won the Pulitzer
Papers by Diederik Oostdijk
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019
The Netherlands Carillon stands out in the American memorial landscape. Situated between Arlingto... more The Netherlands Carillon stands out in the American memorial landscape. Situated between Arlington National Cemetery and the Marine Corps War Memorial, the modernist design of this 127-foot steel bell tower is strangely at odds with its surroundings, much in the same way that its prominent place is at odds with its absence in American memory. In this book, Diederik Oostdijk reveals the intriguing history of this major monument hidden in plain sight.
Given to the United States in the 1950s by the Dutch government as a gesture of gratitude for America’s role in the Dutch liberation during World War II and for the Marshall Plan aid that helped rebuild the Dutch economy, the carillon owes its conspicuous placement to the Cold War. Oostdijk traces the history of this monument, from its creation and the pageantry surrounding its presentation through its fall into disrepair and plans for its renewal. In so doing, he resolves the paradox of the carillon’s placement in Arlington and unearths a fascinating and compelling story of diplomacy and humanity.
Interweaving art history, campanology, landscape architecture, literature, musicology, and diplomatic history, Bells for America recounts how the Netherlands and the United States reconstructed their national identities and fostered an international relationship in the postwar era through public art.
In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostdijk gi... more In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostdijk gives voice to the literary men still considered to be a part of the Silent Generation. Focusing not only on soldier poets, but also on conscientious objectors and those deemed unfit for military service, Among the Nightmare Fighters sheds light on the struggles faced by writers—including Randall Jarrell, Anthony Hecht, Robert Lowell, Howard Nemerov, William Stafford and others—from the onset of the U.S. involvement in the war in Europe to the painful physical and psychological aftereffects soldiers carried with them following their service years.
Enriched with extensive historical and personal background information drawn from the poets' archives, Oostdijk's study explores the internal confusion expressed by the World War II poets who felt overshadowed by the past generation of Great War poets in their own conflicts with notions of identity, manhood, and the haunting aftermath of war. Collectively their poems form an important and sobering antidote to the sometimes overly positive celebrations of the Good War and the Greatest Generation, recapturing some of the anxiety, frustration, and bitter sadness that the war years also occasioned.
Oostdijk demonstrates the importance of appreciating these men not only as a collective literary group, but also as solitary writers experiencing the hardships and adversities of war on an individual level. He emphasizes each author's distinctive perceptions of the disasters they witnessed and the conflicts they witnessed—such as Karl Shapiro's struggle with his Jewish identification, James Dickey's fascination with the meaning and projection of manhood, Nemerov's perception of war's effect on American society, and Ciardi's preoccupation with traumatizing combat memories. A factor that connected these men in their responses to war was their overreaching efforts to identify as individuals and not merely as blurred faces among the myriad combatants, a goal that Oostdijk acknowledges in recognizing the unique experiences of his subjects as key to interpreting their poetry.
Among the Nightmare Fighters has both literary and historical merits as a means to comprehend in a more detailed manner the events that took place on the battlefields and the home front and the psychological effects World War II had on the returning American soldiers. Oostdijk's study echoes with the whispers of these American poets and recognizes the significance their work had on literary history in their time and since.
Peace Review, Jan 1, 2009
The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry, Tim Kendall, ed. (New York: Oxford Universit... more The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry, Tim Kendall, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). ... Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront Since 1941, Philip Metres (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007).
English Studies, Jan 1, 2010
Plus d'un million de titres à notre catalogue ! ... Date de parution : 01-2009 Langue : ANGL... more Plus d'un million de titres à notre catalogue ! ... Date de parution : 01-2009 Langue : ANGLAIS 280p. Disponible chez l'éditeur (délai d'approvisionnement : 10 jours). ... Chronology, Introduction Marina MacKay, Part I. Anglo-American Texts and Contexts: 1. War poetry in Britain Adam ...
English Studies, Jan 1, 2011
Journal of Transatlantic Studies, Jan 1, 2011
Miriam Katin’s two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006). Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Le... more Miriam Katin’s two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006).
Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Letting It Go [(2013). Montreal:
Drawn & Quarterly] both reflect on how the trauma of the
Holocaust can be transformed through and in art. In the former
Katin details how she and her mother narrowly escape the Nazi
occupation of Hungary by fleeing to the countryside when she
was a toddler, while the latter shows how Katin, who has since
emigrated to the United States, is still struggling with anxieties
decades after, which are the result of the Holocaust. Using
insights from both memory studies and Bessel Van Der Kolk’s
experimental psychological theories that trauma is an embodied
experience and that it can be partly released through physical and
creative practices, this essay argues that Katin finds solace
through the multimodal activity of drawing and writing herself
out of the negative aftereffects that the Holocaust have on her.
In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) ... more In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) at Amherst College. Merrill was an undergraduate student who had just returned from World War II, while Lodeizen was a graduate student in biology. Lodeizen was the first international poet Merrill met and the slightly older Dutch poet became a model for a how a gay poet could eke out his poetics. Merrill visited Lodeizen shortly before Lodeizen’s death of leukemia in Lausanne while Merrill was on a sojourn through Europe that would keep him away from the United States for more than a decade. Merrill has admitted that Lodeizen’s death was his “first deeply felt death,” but the true extent of Lodeizen’s legacy has never been explored fully. This paper analyzes how and why the memory of Hans Lodeizen lingered all through Merrill’s career.
Upon further review: sports in American literature, Jan 1, 2004
The Football Elegies of James Dickey and Randall Jarrell: Hegemonic Masculinity versus the&#x... more The Football Elegies of James Dickey and Randall Jarrell: Hegemonic Masculinity versus the'Semifeminine Mind' Diederik Oostdijk In 1966, Life magazine featured a lengthy article on the poet James Dickey (1923-1997) called" The Unlikeliest Poet," which gave Dickey's ...
English Studies, Jan 1, 2007
English Studies, Jan 1, 2000
... Major publications by more or less received names, such as Robinson Jeffers, Robert Penn Warr... more ... Major publications by more or less received names, such as Robinson Jeffers, Robert Penn Warren, William Carlos Williams, and special issues devoted ... Soon Rich sent Shapiro two poems, 'The Rain of Blood' and 'Mathilde in Normandy', pub-lished in January 1951, which are ...
Neophilologus, Jan 1, 2006
The American soldier-poet Karl Shapiro won the Pulitzer
Unhinging the National Framework, Dec 8, 2020
A number of peculiarities of philosophical counseling will be analyzed as a particular way of phi... more A number of peculiarities of philosophical counseling will be analyzed as a particular way of philosophizing. The paper analyzes philosophical counseling based on the clarifying insistence on the meanings of philosophical counseling, elaborated by Sandu Frunză in the volume Communication and Philosophical Counseling, published by the Eikon Publishing House in Bucharest in 2019, the type of particular discourse necessary for philosophical practice and its claims to be a branch of philosophy.
In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) ... more In 1946 the American poet James Merrill (1926-1995) met the Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen (1924-1950) at Amherst College. Merrill was an undergraduate student who had just returned from World War II, while Lodeizen was a graduate student in biology. Lodeizen was the first international poet Merrill met and the slightly older Dutch poet became a model for a how a gay poet could eke out his poetics. Merrill visited Lodeizen shortly before Lodeizen’s death of leukemia in Lausanne while Merrill was on a sojourn through Europe that would keep him away from the United States for more than a decade. Merrill has admitted that Lodeizen’s death was his “first deeply felt death,” but the true extent of Lodeizen’s legacy has never been explored fully. This paper analyzes how and why the memory of Hans Lodeizen lingered all through Merrill’s career.
Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 2018
Miriam Katin's two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006). Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Le... more Miriam Katin's two graphic memoirs We Are on Our Own [(2006). Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] and Letting It Go [(2013). Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly] both reflect on how the trauma of the Holocaust can be transformed through and in art. In the former Katin details how she and her mother narrowly escape the Nazi occupation of Hungary by fleeing to the countryside when she was a toddler, while the latter shows how Katin, who has since emigrated to the United States, is still struggling with anxieties decades after, which are the result of the Holocaust. Using insights from both memory studies and Bessel Van Der Kolk's experimental psychological theories that trauma is an embodied experience and that it can be partly released through physical and creative practices, this essay argues that Katin finds solace through the multimodal activity of drawing and writing herself out of the negative aftereffects that the Holocaust have on her. The Hungarian American graphic artist Miriam Katin completed two graphic memoirs about her Holocaust experience. The critically acclaimed We Are on Our Own (2006) details Katin's mother's and her own harrowing escape from Budapest after the Nazis usurped the city, while Letting It Go (2013) tells of Katin's painful acceptance of her son taking Hungarian citizenship and deciding to live in Berlin decades after the war. This paper argues that Katin's graphic metamorphosis of trauma involves three steps. Katin's process of healing reflects, firstly, the importance of sharing intergenerational memory since Katin learns a more comprehensive story of the war years from her mother, and passes on her own memory to her son. Although visually divergent, We Are on Our Own and Letting It Go both show how communicative memory-"based on forms of everyday interaction and communication"is passed on through the generations (Erll 2011, 28). Yet the two graphic memoirs are themselves also examples of collective memory that preserve the memory of the Holocaust in a cultural form. Secondly, both memoirs emphasize the power of multimodal creativity, as finding words, visualizing a past experience, and listening to music are essential to Katin's finding a hidden wholeness inside herself. Thirdly, the graphic diptych reflects on the Holocaust as a case of
Choice Reviews Online, 2011
"In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostd... more "In the first comprehensive study of the American male poets of World War II, Diederik Oostdijk gives voice to the literary men still considered to be a part of the Silent Generation. Focusing not only on soldier poets, but also on conscientious objectors and those deemed unfit for military service, Among the Nightmare Fighters sheds light on the struggles faced by writers—including Randall Jarrell, Anthony Hecht, Robert Lowell, Howard Nemerov, William Stafford and others—from the onset of the U.S. involvement in the war in Europe to the painful physical and psychological aftereffects soldiers carried with them following their service years. Enriched with extensive historical and personal background information drawn from the poets' archives, Oostdijk's study explores the internal confusion expressed by the World War II poets who felt overshadowed by the past generation of Great War poets in their own conflicts with notions of identity, manhood, and the haunting aftermath of war. Collectively their poems form an important and sobering antidote to the sometimes overly positive celebrations of the Good War and the Greatest Generation, recapturing some of the anxiety, frustration, and bitter sadness that the war years also occasioned. Oostdijk demonstrates the importance of appreciating these men not only as a collective literary group, but also as solitary writers experiencing the hardships and adversities of war on an individual level. He emphasizes each author's distinctive perceptions of the disasters they witnessed and the conflicts they witnessed—such as Karl Shapiro's struggle with his Jewish identification, James Dickey's fascination with the meaning and projection of manhood, Nemerov's perception of war's effect on American society, and Ciardi's preoccupation with traumatizing combat memories. A factor that connected these men in their responses to war was their overreaching efforts to identify as individuals and not merely as blurred faces among the myriad combatants, a goal that Oostdijk acknowledges in recognizing the unique experiences of his subjects as key to interpreting their poetry. Among the Nightmare Fighters has both literary and historical merits as a means to comprehend in a more detailed manner the events that took place on the battlefields and the home front and the psychological effects World War II had on the returning American soldiers. Oostdijk's study echoes with the whispers of these American poets and recognizes the significance their work had on literary history in their time and since."