Merlyn
| Merlyn
|
|
|---|---|
| description | Literary magazine |
| Area of Expertise | Contemporary Poetry and Prose, Close Reading |
| language | Dutch |
| publishing company | Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep |
| First edition | November 1962 |
| attitude | 1966 |
| Frequency of publication | six issues p. a. |
| editor | Kees Fens, Hans Ulrich Jessurun d'Oliveira, JJ Oversteegen |
| Web link | Merlyn on dnbl.org (Dutch) |
Merlyn was a Dutch literary magazine by Kees Fens, Hans Ulrich Jessurun d'Oliveira and JJ Oversteegen. The sheet appeared for the first time in November 1962. It appeared in four volumes up to 1966 and was published by the publishing house Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep.
Merlyn is best known for bringing the close reading technique to the Dutch literary scene. The magazine was reacting to the form of literary criticism that was dominant in the 1950s, in which - according to the Merlyn editors - much attention was paid to philosophy, psychology and morality, while the text itself was neglected. In doing so, Merlyn revived the pre-of-vent discussion of the 1930s in some ways. Close Reading analyzes and interprets literature solely on the basis of the text itself and its structure. Extra-literary factors are ignored.
This way of looking at literature by Merlyn had a great influence on literary criticism and literary studies in the Netherlands.