Prof. J.H.T. Joosten (Jos)

Prof. Dr J.H.Th. Joosten’s areas of specialisation are:

book reviewing in the Netherlands and Flanders, contemporary Dutch-language literature, and literary institutions.

Jos Joosten has been Professor of Dutch Literature at Radboud University Nijmegen since February 2006. He is involved in the SCARAB (Studying Critical Infrastructure and Reception Across Borders) research group at Radboud University and supervises PhD research in the field of literary institutions.
In 1996, Joosten obtained his PhD under Kees Fens (with literary sociologist Bert Vanheste as co-supervisor) on ‘Fact and Intervention: History and Views in Tijd en mens (1949–1955)’, the standard work on the Flemish Vijftigers. From 1999 to 2006, he worked in the Department of Modern Dutch Literature at Utrecht University. He also held teaching posts at the Institut für Niederländische Philologie in Cologne.
Joosten has published several books on Dutch-language literature, including ‘Onttachtiging: essays on contemporary poetry and poetry criticism’ (2003), the essay collection ‘Misbaar. Hoe literatuur literatuur wordt’ (2008) and ‘Staande receptie: over literatuurkritiek en literatuurwetenschap’ (2012), a short study of mechanisms within contemporary literary criticism.
‘De verdeelde mens: Jan Walravens [1920–1965], schrijver, ijkpunt, avant-gardist’, a biography of the key figure in Flemish literature Jan Walravens, was published in 2018.
Joosten was editor of and contributed to the anthology ‘Branding Books Across the Ages: Strategies and Key Concepts in Literary Branding’ (Amsterdam 2021) and wrote a contribution to: Mathijs Sanders et al. (eds.), ‘Literary Prizes and Cultural Transfer’ (Groningen 2021).
In 2023, ‘Hoera! Een boek (over Nederlands en Nederlandse letterkunde van nu)’ was published. In 2025, he published ‘Och eeuwig is zo lang: zeshonderd jaar Nederlandstalige literatuur in het licht van de eeuwigheid’. Joosten writes regularly about poetry in the daily newspaper ‘Trouw’.