Dutch literature in France

French literature remains very much centered on itself for a long time. Sources often associate the interest in Dutch literature with the discovery of Scandinavian authors at the end of the nineteenth century. However, a beginning of recognition of Dutch literature exists well before that time: in 1827 a literary history by Siegenbeek appears in French, and in the same year plays by Langendijk, Vondel and Hooft are published in the series Chefs d'oeuvres des théatres étrangers.
The vogue of the historical novel -  in the period inventoried by Van Bragt, Walter Scott is the most translated author next to the Greek and Roman classics - is of great benefit to the translation of Dutch literature. In the following years, the public gets to know Tollens' Zembla epic (1839), and two novels by Van Lennep that are reprinted several times: a first translation of De Roos van Dekama is published in 1840; a second one in 1860 and 1879, in the collection Bibliothèque des meilleurs romans étrangers at Hachette. This second translation is by David van Lennep - son of the author - and Léon Wocquier, translator of the Oeuvres complètes of Hendrik Conscience from 1854 onwards. Van Lennep thus probably benefitted from Conscience's success. His Ferdinand Huyck also has several French editions: in 1858, 1865 and 1871, translated by the same duo. Hildebrand's Camera Obscura was translated, again by Wocquier, and published in two parts in 1856 and 1860 respectively.

The undisputed bestseller of the nineteenth century is Hendrik Conscience, whose complete works were published in French by Lévy publishers between 1854 and 1885. As José Lambert points out, the interest in Conscience is not purely literary; 'romantic-political' imagery also plays a role. This also applies, mutatis mutandis, to the best-known Dutch writer of the late 19th century: Multatuli. After a pre-publication in 1868, Max Havelaar is first published in French in 1876. After an initial lack of interest, The Havelaar and selections from other works soon become weapons in the struggle of socialists and anarchists. In the process, Multatuli also becomes international property: until the mid-twentieth century it is mainly Belgians who will open up his work in France. It is only from 1943 onwards that interest in the literary aspects of his work begins to dominate.
Conscience incarnating the Flemish struggle for freedom, Multatuli being put in the limelight by a small group of radicals: it shows how politics in the nineteenth century could play a role in what was discussed and translated. Perhaps it is also because of the French public's politically tinged interest that at the end of the nineteenth century - in 1898 and 1899 - the first two translations of Couperus appear: the two novels that, with a little effort, can be considered to be his most politically committed: Majesteit and Wereldvrede. The translation of Hooge Troeven was announced, but never published. Nowadays, political motives play no demonstrable role, unless one wants to label the recent translations of migrant literature (A. Benali, K. Abdolah, etc.) as such.

What is being translated today? Roughly speaking, regular publishers are interested in recent and successful titles. There are only a few authors whose entire oeuvre (or a large part of it) has been translated; a few examples are writers who are now part of the Dutch canon, such as Hella Haasse, Cees Nooteboom and Hugo Claus, but a younger author such as Erwin Mortier has also had all his other novels translated following the favorable reception of Marcel. University publishers are relatively often responsible for the publication of the 'true classics' that are not contemporary and cannot be promoted by their author. In the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the Presses Universitaires had a Pays-Bas/Flandre collection and published some fifteen books, from Couperus and Emants to Teirlinck and Walschap. Unknown authors and the 'marginal' genres of poetry and drama, finally, are usually published by smaller publishing houses.
Between 1900 and 1957, 94 translations from the Dutch were published. Most of the prose titles translated date from after 1880; the three authors who scored best in those years (3 titles translated or more) were, respectively, Jan de Hartog, Willy Corsari and A. den Doolaard.
Between 1958 and 1982, there appears to be a clear downward trend in the number of publications. After 1983, and especially from 1986 onwards, a cautious increase seems to set in, which could be more important if we were to take into account J.W. van de Wetering, from whom 37 titles were translated between 1979 and 2002 – but from the English, by the way, which disqualifies them for this chart. Leaving these aside, the number of translations exceeded ten for the first time in 1990. This increase was mainly due to the active publishing policy of Actes Sud and the discovery of Hugo Claus.
A clear explosion was then to be seen in 2003, the year in which Dutch-language literature took centre stage at the Salon du Livre in Paris: no fewer than 55 titles. The following year, the number of titles dropped by more than half, but in 2005 it rose again to 33: perhaps a second-wave effect of the Salon? After that, the interest ebbs away a bit. On average, thirty titles appear annually from 2003-2007 and in recent years (from 2008) around twenty.

As indicated above, the introduction of Dutch literature in France used to be dominated by bilingual Belgians (until the first half of the 20th century). Often this involved translators in a double role. One might think here of Multatuli's advocates and translators, who published introductions to his work and his life in magazines and books, but also of someone like translator Maddy Buysse (1908-2000), daughter-in-law of the author, who until the 1970s translated a large number of diverse writers such  as Claus, Daisne, Michiels, Corsari, Vandeloo, Fabricius, Hamelink, Geeraerts and Reve, and above all who managed to place them with leading publishers such as Gallimard, thanks to her good contacts in the Parisian publishing world. According to Reine Meylaerts, Maddy Buysse accounted for 10% of post-war translation production with 19 translated titles.
Dutch literature has remained relatively peripheral. Although some authors have been translated very extensively over the years, such as Hugo Claus, Hella Haasse and Cees Nooteboom, they still do not benefit from any real name recognition among the general public. No clearly defined representation has yet emerged in the repertoire of French readers, as is the case for classic foreign references such as nineteenth-century Russian and, more recently, Italian and Swedish (thriller) literature.

s.a. “Traductions des littératures de langue néerlandaise”, Gallica / Bibliothèque Nationale de France, https://gallica.bnf.fr/html/und/litteratures/traductions-des-litteratures-de-langue-neerlandaise?mode=desktop

Kim Andringa, “Importeurs en exporteurs van literatuur”, Internationale Neerlandistiek, 53, nr.3, 2012, p. 129-142.

José Lambert, “De verspreiding van Nederlandse literatuur in Frankrijk: enkele beschouwinge”, Ons Erfdeel 23, 1980, p.74-86.

Reine Meylaerts, “Kleine literaturen in vertaling: buitenkans of gemiste kans?”, M.Hinderdael, L.Jooken & H.Verstraete, De aarde heeft kamers genoeg. Hoe vertalers omgaan met culturele identiteit in het werk van Erwin Mortier, Antwerpen, Garant, 2009, p.33-49. https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/38138