Child of the Enlightenment
Revolutionary Europe Reflected in a Boyhood Diary
Biographical note
Arianne Baggerman directs a research program on 18th- and 19th-century autobiographical writing at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She has published books and articles on the history of writing, publishing and reading. Her dissertation on book publishing in the Netherlands in the 18th and 19th centuries will be published in English by Brill.
Rudolf Dekker is the author of Humour in Dutch Culture of the Golden Age (Palgrave 2001) and the editor of Egodocuments and History: Autobiographical Writing in its Social Context since the Middle Ages (Verloren 2002). Together with Arianne Baggerman, he directs the Institute for Egodocuments and History (www.egodocument.net).
Rudolf Dekker is the author of Humour in Dutch Culture of the Golden Age (Palgrave 2001) and the editor of Egodocuments and History: Autobiographical Writing in its Social Context since the Middle Ages (Verloren 2002). Together with Arianne Baggerman, he directs the Institute for Egodocuments and History (www.egodocument.net).
Readership
All those interested in the development of autobiographical writing, the history of ideas, culture and education, and the history of the Dutch Republic and the age of the French Revolution.
Reviews
"Angenehm fällt bei der Lektüre des durch und durch gelehrten Werkes auf, dass nicht fortwährend keywords bemüht werden. Es lässt sich auch so merken, dass Ari-anne Baggermann und Rudolf Dekker mit aktuellen historiographischen Debatten vertraut sind...Das Buch ist elegant geschrieben und last not least mit seinen vielen Abbildungen aus zeitgenössischen Kinder- und anderen Bü-chern auch ein Bilder-Buch über aufgeklärte Kindheit. [E]in Opus Magnum." Pia Schmid,Bios Vol. 24, No. 1 (2011), pp. 157-163.
"Child of the Enlightenment is a wonderful, fascinating book, a valuable and complex achievement at the intersection of a number of different historical fields. It contributes to our understanding of the Enlightenment as an intellectual movement which “real” people embodied and enacted [...]. It is a social history of Europe in a period of profound transformation, exploring the structures of daily life and thought in a progressive, propertied family. And it is a gripping political history of the first tumultuous years of revolution in the Netherlands in the 1790s, all from the initial perspective a child—and moving far beyond." John Cornell, H-France Review Vol. 12, No. 38 (March 2012).
"... a book that brings together social history, political history, the history of ideas, and the history of reading in an intelligent and admirably creative way." Dorothee Sturkenboom, The Journal of Social History, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Fall 2011)
... a valuable contribution not just to Dutch but also to European historiography—that is, required reading for social,
medical, and political historians.
Margaret C. Jacob in The Journal of Modern History Vol. 83, No. 2 (June 2011)
Through their engagement with Otto’s dairy, Baggerman and Dekker have produced a detailed, nuanced and highly original account of the Enlightenment, ‘constructed, for a change, from the bottom up’.
Neil Cocks, University of Reading, in: The British Society for Literature and Science
Child of the Enlightenment captivates the reader, because the life of little Otto provides more of a conduit than an endpoint to this book, whose real subject is the politico-cultural history of Holland in the 1790s and the Batavian Revolution of 1795. [...] There is much to commend Child of the Enlightenment for students and scholars of eighteenth-century or revolutionary history. This beautifully illustrated narrative alternates between in-depth close-ups of Otto and his daily life and broader forays into a number of timely and interesting topics in the field.
Julia Douthwaite in: Biography. An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 33.2 (Spring 2010)
Child of the Enlightenment is an extremely impressive achievement [...] an immensely valuable - not to mention personal - contribution to long-standing debates about the social depth and contemporary impact of Enlightenment ideas, but it also has much to say on other matters.
Mark Towsey in Dutch Crossing vol. 34 no. 3 (November 2010)
Taking Otto's diary as their guide, and displaying dazzling erudition and historical acumen, Baggerman and Dekker offer a complex, multifaceted depiction of a life, a family, a social milieu, an intellectual movement, and a revolution. Historians of childhood [...] will welcome and thoroughly enjoy this book, and so will other historians, students, and lay readers.
Adriana S. Benzaquén in Journal of the History of Behavorial Sciences, Vol. 47 (1) (Winter 2011), 109-111
This is a delightful book. Lavishly illustrated with contemporary prints and portraits, it takes the reader on a leisurely learned tour of highways and byways of Enlightenment history. Gracefully written and scrupulously documented, this imaginitative study offers much of interest both to specialists in related historical fields and to more general readers.
Joyce Senders Pedersen in The European Legacy vol. 16 no. 4 (2011), 563-564.
C’est donc pour ce qu’il nous apprend sur l’éducation enfantine, sous toutes ses facettes, y compris l’investissement assidu des parents, et sur ce qu’ont été les enfants des Lumières, en général, que le livre est incontournable, d’autant plus qu’il est remarquablement écrit.
Annie Jourdan, Annales historique de la Révolution française no. 358 (2010) 220.
The authors (...) provide an excellent panoramic overview of Otto's world and education. Drawing on a wide diversity of sources, including international and Dutch authors, pedagogical treatises and manuals, medical manuals, novels, family histories, encyclopedias, travelogues, and maps, Baggerman and Dekker carefully recreate the world in which Otto lived.
Benjamin Roberts, American Historical Review, (April 2010) 626-627.
Child of the Enlightenment rests on the author's expert knowledge of daily events in 1780s and 1790s Netherlands and adjacent cultures. Its dense and telling prose, translated into graceful English by Diane Webb, is a delight to read, and its 164 illustrations give real world images for the historical concepts discussed.
Ruth B. Bottigheimer, SHARP News vol. 20, no. 2
"Child of the Enlightenment is a wonderful, fascinating book, a valuable and complex achievement at the intersection of a number of different historical fields. It contributes to our understanding of the Enlightenment as an intellectual movement which “real” people embodied and enacted [...]. It is a social history of Europe in a period of profound transformation, exploring the structures of daily life and thought in a progressive, propertied family. And it is a gripping political history of the first tumultuous years of revolution in the Netherlands in the 1790s, all from the initial perspective a child—and moving far beyond." John Cornell, H-France Review Vol. 12, No. 38 (March 2012).
"... a book that brings together social history, political history, the history of ideas, and the history of reading in an intelligent and admirably creative way." Dorothee Sturkenboom, The Journal of Social History, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Fall 2011)
... a valuable contribution not just to Dutch but also to European historiography—that is, required reading for social,
medical, and political historians.
Margaret C. Jacob in The Journal of Modern History Vol. 83, No. 2 (June 2011)
Through their engagement with Otto’s dairy, Baggerman and Dekker have produced a detailed, nuanced and highly original account of the Enlightenment, ‘constructed, for a change, from the bottom up’.
Neil Cocks, University of Reading, in: The British Society for Literature and Science
Child of the Enlightenment captivates the reader, because the life of little Otto provides more of a conduit than an endpoint to this book, whose real subject is the politico-cultural history of Holland in the 1790s and the Batavian Revolution of 1795. [...] There is much to commend Child of the Enlightenment for students and scholars of eighteenth-century or revolutionary history. This beautifully illustrated narrative alternates between in-depth close-ups of Otto and his daily life and broader forays into a number of timely and interesting topics in the field.
Julia Douthwaite in: Biography. An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 33.2 (Spring 2010)
Child of the Enlightenment is an extremely impressive achievement [...] an immensely valuable - not to mention personal - contribution to long-standing debates about the social depth and contemporary impact of Enlightenment ideas, but it also has much to say on other matters.
Mark Towsey in Dutch Crossing vol. 34 no. 3 (November 2010)
Taking Otto's diary as their guide, and displaying dazzling erudition and historical acumen, Baggerman and Dekker offer a complex, multifaceted depiction of a life, a family, a social milieu, an intellectual movement, and a revolution. Historians of childhood [...] will welcome and thoroughly enjoy this book, and so will other historians, students, and lay readers.
Adriana S. Benzaquén in Journal of the History of Behavorial Sciences, Vol. 47 (1) (Winter 2011), 109-111
This is a delightful book. Lavishly illustrated with contemporary prints and portraits, it takes the reader on a leisurely learned tour of highways and byways of Enlightenment history. Gracefully written and scrupulously documented, this imaginitative study offers much of interest both to specialists in related historical fields and to more general readers.
Joyce Senders Pedersen in The European Legacy vol. 16 no. 4 (2011), 563-564.
C’est donc pour ce qu’il nous apprend sur l’éducation enfantine, sous toutes ses facettes, y compris l’investissement assidu des parents, et sur ce qu’ont été les enfants des Lumières, en général, que le livre est incontournable, d’autant plus qu’il est remarquablement écrit.
Annie Jourdan, Annales historique de la Révolution française no. 358 (2010) 220.
The authors (...) provide an excellent panoramic overview of Otto's world and education. Drawing on a wide diversity of sources, including international and Dutch authors, pedagogical treatises and manuals, medical manuals, novels, family histories, encyclopedias, travelogues, and maps, Baggerman and Dekker carefully recreate the world in which Otto lived.
Benjamin Roberts, American Historical Review, (April 2010) 626-627.
Child of the Enlightenment rests on the author's expert knowledge of daily events in 1780s and 1790s Netherlands and adjacent cultures. Its dense and telling prose, translated into graceful English by Diane Webb, is a delight to read, and its 164 illustrations give real world images for the historical concepts discussed.
Ruth B. Bottigheimer, SHARP News vol. 20, no. 2
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Prologue
1. An Enlightened Education
2. Otto’s Diary
3. Required Reading
4. The Garden as a Pedagogical Project
5. Social World
6. Broadening Horizons
7. Changing Concepts of Time
8. Reconstructing Man and Society
9. Revolution in the Netherlands
10. Children of the Future
11. Theophilanthropists and Physico-Theologians
12. The Vulnerable Body
Epilogue
Notes
List of Illustrations
Index
Illustration Credits
Introduction
Prologue
1. An Enlightened Education
2. Otto’s Diary
3. Required Reading
4. The Garden as a Pedagogical Project
5. Social World
6. Broadening Horizons
7. Changing Concepts of Time
8. Reconstructing Man and Society
9. Revolution in the Netherlands
10. Children of the Future
11. Theophilanthropists and Physico-Theologians
12. The Vulnerable Body
Epilogue
Notes
List of Illustrations
Index
Illustration Credits
€99.00$136.00
Describing the epistolary practices of the Dutch elite in the period 1770-1850, this book shows how cultural ideals of sincerity, individuality and naturalness influenced the style and contents of letters and argues for the vital importance of correspondence to the performance of class, gender ...
€129.00$177.00
This book gives answers to questions surrounding the rise of autobiographical writing from the sixteenth to the twentieth century by analyzing texts varying from the time of the Spanish Inquisi¬tion to post-war Japan.
€107.00$149.00
Focusing on four Dutch diaries from different periods of the early modern age, this book describes in detail the diversified use of reading in everyday life, examining it in a wider context of communication that also includes writing and speech.
No additional information