Arnon Grunberg and Han van Ruler are the speakers of the third Huizinga Lecture in Middelburg. On Homo Ludens, the playing man: ‘In the beginning was play. Why and to what purpose do we play?’
[This event is in Dutch]
Professor of Intellectual History Han van Ruler will speak at De Oostkerk in Middelburg on Sunday 23 March about Johan Huizinga's life (1872-1945) and work as a cultural historian and cultural philosopher, and about his book ‘In the shadows of tomorrow’, about our possessed world.
It is the third Huizinga Lecture, organised by the Johan Huizinga Middelburg Foundation, following the 2023 and 2024 lectures. The theme of the Huizinga lectures is Huizinga's work ‘Homo Ludens’, on the playing man. Why and to what purpose do we play? With his book Homo Ludens, Johan Huizinga made a name for himself worldwide as a cultural philosopher. In a bold and at the same time balanced argument, he explained how all culture originates in play and as play. He condensed all his knowledge and expertise into this 1938 book, which quickly gained international recognition as a classic. A beautiful, richly illustrated new edition of this book was published in late 2024, edited by Huizinga expert Anton van der Lem.
Han van Ruler
The speaker will be Prof Dr Han van Ruler. Han van Ruler is professor of Intellectual History at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has also been scientific director of the Dutch Research School of Philosophy since 2014.
Van Ruler specialises in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philosophy. He obtained his PhD for his dissertation on Descartes at the University of Groningen, awarded the Erasmus Prize. Several modern Dutch editions of philosophical works by Spinoza and Descartes, among others, are to his credit.
Arnon Grunberg
Secondly, Arnon Grunberg speaks. Arnon Grunberg is a writer of mostly novels, stories, essays, reports and columns. Grunberg became known with his 1994 debut novel Blue Mondays. Since 2014, Grunberg has been a member of the Academy of Arts. Among the many prizes awarded to him are the Constantijn Huygens Prize for his entire oeuvre in 2009, the P.C. Hooft Prize for his novels and stories and the Johannes Vermeer Prize, both of which he received in 2022. The jury report of the P.C. Hooft Prize called Grunberg ‘a writer unparalleled in ambition, productivity and intellectual power'. Grunberg is host of broadcaster Human's television programme The Philosophical Quintet.
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