Few things have had such a profound impact on literature and poetry as the landscape. It has been a deep source of inspiration for writers and poets alike. In their works, the landscape reflects their mood and symbolises everything that encompasses existence; it is celebrated and relived, and characters surrender themselves and their destinies to it.
This is especially true of Dutch authors. The Dutch landscape has been completely designed by the human hand. Every square metre has been shaped, deliberately or not, by humans and subjected to plans for the future. In that sense, it can be interpreted as a text in itself, a text over which the author writes his or her text. That’s why the literary periodical De Gids asked leading Dutch writers and poets to put that part of the Dutch landscape that they are most familiar with at the hearth of a story, essay or poem.
