Het Nederlandse literatuuronderwijs in de Waalse provincies als prescriptieve Landeskunde (1817-1900)

This article focuses on three nineteenth-century literary histories written for French-speaking students of Dutch. The histories illustrate a concern on the part of the authors (J.F.X. Würth, F.A. Snellaert, and J. Stecher) not only with the teaching of Dutch literature and the development of a solid Dutch literary tradition but also with the presentation of their material in keeping with an underlying ideological framework. In each case their presentation was designed to reinforce a particular view of country and culture and of the respective roles of the Dutch, Flemish and Walloon peoples in the creation of a one-nation state. The differences between them reflect a change in the significance of Dutch literature as a result of political developments, leading in turn to a paradigm shift in the teaching of the subject at university. An analysis of the didactic aims and principles underlying the literary histories written by Würth, Snellaert and Stecher reveals the extent to which political allegiances and nationalist considerations determined their selection criteria and the organisation of their subject matter. Not surprisingly, the contemporary critical response to these study books shows a similar ideological bias.