Maurits Wagenvoort

In this biographical project, funded by the Nederlands Letterenfonds, Floris Meens will study the life and work of the Dutch essayist, playwright, novelist and travel author Maurits Wagenvoort (1859-1944). In the biography Meens will trace Wagenvoort's adventurous life path that brought him into contact with various cultures (including the United States, the Middle East, India, and North Africa). Meens will also analyse the ways in which Wagenvoort influenced the cultural transfer of the works of important foreign authors in the Netherlands, including Walt Whitman, as well as European knowledge about other continents, with a focus on gender, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexuality.