Betje Wolff
Encyclopedia
Flushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...
, 24 July 1738 - The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, 5 November 1804) was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
writer.
On 18 November 1759 she married the 52-year-old clergyman Adriaan Wolff. In 1763 she published her first collection Bespiegelingen over het genoegen ('Reflections on Pleasure'). In 1777, after her husband's death, she lived together with Aagje Deken
Aagje Deken
Aagje Deken was a Dutch writer.Agatha Deken was born in 1741. In 1745 her parents died and she went to live in the 'De Oranje Appel' orphanage in Amsterdam, where she remained until 1767. After leaving the orphanage she served in several families and later started a business in coffee and tea...
and from then on they published their work together. Among their greatest successes were the epistolary novel
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
s Historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart (1782
1782 in literature
-Events:* Charles Dibdin becomes joint manager of the Royal Circus, afterwards known as the Surrey Theatre.* William Blake first meets his patron, John Flaxman.* The Siku Quanshu is completed, the largest literary compilation in China's history...
) and Historie van den heer Willem Leevend (1784
1784 in literature
-Events:* The founding of the Methodist Church by John Wesley* Gottlieb Jakob Planck becomes professor of theology at Göttingen-New books:* Thomas Astle - The Origin and Progress of Writing* George Berkeley - Works...
-1785
1785 in literature
-Events:* January 1 - First publication of the Daily Universal Register * Thomas Warton becomes Poet Laureate* The first steam powered cotton spinner was made by Matthew Bolton and James Watt....
).
Because of their patriotic
Patriots (faction)
The Patriots were a political faction in the Dutch Republic in the second half of the 18th century. They were led by Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, gaining power from November 1782....
sympathies they moved to Trévoux
Trévoux
Trévoux is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.It is a suburb of Lyon.-History:The town was the capital of the Dombes principality, and famed for its dictionary...
in Burgundy in 1788. In 1789
1789 in literature
-Events:* Friedrich Schiller is appointed professor of history and philosophy at Jena.* The Children's Magazine, the first American periodical for children, is published in Hartford, Connecticut...
they published Wandelingen door Bourgogne. She was exposed to some of the dangers of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and, it is said, escaped the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
only by her great presence of mind. In 1795 she returned to Holland, and resided at the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
till her death.
Other popular books by Betje Wolff and Aagje Deken were Abraham Blankaart (1787) and Cornelie Wildschut (1793-1796).