ABSTRACT
This article focuses on three nineteenth-century literary histories written for francophone students of Dutch. The histories illustrate a concern on the part of the authors (J.-F.-X. Würth, F.A. Snellaert and J. Stecher) not only with the teaching of Dutch literature and the construction of a solid Dutch literary tradition but also with the presentation of their material in keeping with an underlying ideological framework. In each case their presentation was designed to reinforce a particular view of country and culture and of the respective roles of the Dutch, Flemish, and Walloon peoples in the creation of a one-nation state. The differences between them reflect a change in the meaning of Dutch literature as a result of political developments, leading in turn to a paradigm shift in the teaching of the subject at university. An analysis of the didactic aims and principles underlying the literary histories written by Würth, Snellaert, and Stecher reveals the extent to which political allegiances and nationalist considerations determined their selection criteria and organization of subject matter. Not surprisingly, the contemporary critical response to these study books shows a similar ideological bias.
