Bart Leeuwenburgh, Assistant Professor in History of Philosophy, has published his new book 'De betoverde wereld van Balthasar Bekker' with Boom. Read along for a description of the book, Leeuwenburgh's story about the origin of the idea to write and translate this work into modern Dutch, and his experiences in doing so.
Infamous bestseller from the seventeenth century
The Devil, witches, sorcerers, ghosts, spirits, the enchanted and the possessed are at the core of this modern anthology of De Betoverde Wereld. This four-volume work by the Dutch preacher and theologian Balthasar Bekker (1634-1698) caused an uproar in the late seventeenth century. Immediately after the publication of the first two volumes in 1691, a true pamphlet war broke out.
Personal interpretation of the Bible
What had Balthasar Bekker done? Based on his own interpretation of the Bible and with arguments drawn from the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650), he argued that all kinds of stories about demonic practices were just fairy tales. Bekker wanted to eliminate superstition, not in the least because innocent people were being burned at the stake as witches or sorcerers.
Not everyone thanked him for doing so. Bekker's unorthodox view that God would have chained the Devil in hell was a thorn in the flesh of the members of the Dutch Reformed Church in particular. If the Devil had no power, who was the originator of evil on earth? Perhaps Bekker himself was possessed by the Devil....
In this book, Bart Leeuwenburgh brings Balthasar Bekker's enchanted world back to life with unusual stories such as 'Peeing needles in Kampen', 'The possessed parrot' and 'Giving birth to a child of the Devil'.
Origins
After Leeuwenburgh published Het Noodlot van een Ketter, a biography of Adriaan Koerbagh (1633-1669), in 2013, he still did not have an idea for a new book, until Wiep van Bunge (Professor in the History of Philosophy) pointed out to him that when consulting seventeenth-century manuscripts, he often came across stories about ghosts, spirits, witches, sorcerers, possessed people, etc. "There is a lot to be found on that subject, more than enough for a book," Wiep said. When Leeuwenburgh presented this idea to his publisher, Marc Beerens, his response was, "That book by Bekker, De Betoverde Wereld, was a notorious 'bestseller'. Wouldn't you want to translate it into modern Dutch?" Thus the idea was born to translate the most interesting sections from De Betoverde Wereld, i.e., an anthology in other words, into modern Dutch with explanatory footnotes, illustrations and an extensive introduction to Bekker and his book.
Writing/translating
Because the meaning of many 17th-century Dutch words has changed over time, retranslation is a tricky business. You must pay close attention to what the author is trying to convey. Also, back then, the rules for spelling, punctuation and syntax were not as fixed as they are now. On top of that, Bekker's writing was rather long-winded. Leeuwenburgh had to break some sentences down into three or even four to make them sufficiently readable. When making the translation, he gratefully used the historical dictionaries freely available on the Internet from the 'Geïntegreerde Taalbank' (GTB) by the 'Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal' (INT), especially the 'Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal' (WNT) and sometimes, because of Bekkers Frisian background, the 'Woordenboek der Friese Taal' (WFT).
Leeuwenburgh concludes by saying, "Keeping Bekker in mind, I am not superstitious, but now that the job is done, I have come to the conclusion that it cannot be a coincidence that in Dutch 'hertalen', 'hemel' and 'hel' all start with an 'h'. Just look it up in an etymological dictionary!"
- More information
For more information, see the webpage of Boom.
