Esther Op de Beek is Assistant Professor in Modern Dutch Literature at Leiden University and Director of education at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS).

More information about Esther Op de Beek

Fields of interest

• Modern and Contemporary Dutch literature
• Happiness Studies and Literature
• Travel Writing Studies
• Literary Criticism, Evaluation and Reception
• Periodical Research

Research

 My research focuses on two interrelated themes and consistently revolves around modern and contemporary Dutch literature in an international context.

I The representations of happiness (and literature) in modern literature

Conceptions of happiness and well-being take shape in stories: stories that circulate in society and media as scripts for a successful or worthwhile life, stories we tell others and ourselves, and stories in films, series and novels. My research revolves around the question: what can literature mean in thinking about happiness, or in dealing with the modern ‘duty’ to be happy, as philosopher Pascal Bruckner described it: the modern, Western idea that we fail when we are unhappy and it is our individual responsibility to do something about it; the high stacks of self-help books contributing precisely to that duty. I examine what literature opposes this self-help culture, or presents in dialogue with it.

II Ethical tensions modern Dutch travel writing

Related to the happiness project is my interest in travel writing, particularly in the tensions between personal wellbeing and problematic consequences of travel for humans, animals and nature.The urge to travel is at odds with its harmful effects. The scale by which we travel has become a threat to our planet and global welfare. Yet, traveling is considered inherent to well-being, self-cultivation and global citizenship. In my research I aim to investigate how the tensions between these aims and effects have been dealt with by Dutch travel authors.

Teaching activities

In 2014-2015 I will coordinate or/and participate in courses on Modern Dutch Literature from an international perspective, Literary Analysis and interpretation and Stylistics.

Curriculum vitae

Esther Op de Beek is Assistant Professor in Modern Dutch Literature at Leiden University and Director of education at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). Op de Beek obtained her PhD at Radboud University Nijmegen, within the NWO-funded research project The Best Intentions, Literary Criticism in the Netherlands 1945-2005.
Together with Prof. dr. Rick Honings, she coordinates The Dutch Centre for Travel Writing Studies, a scientific center that develops and coordinates initiatives to promote research into travel writing. It actively seeks contact with external (scientific and social) partners to collaborate on issues surrounding cultural / national identity, cultural contact and globalization, migration, exile and diaspora.
Her teaching covers a wide range of topics in the overlapping fields of literary studies, reception studies, happiness studies and travel writing studies. She develops and teaches courses on modern and contemporary Dutch literature from different approaches to literature, including courses on literary theory, narratology, contemporary Dutch fiction, travel and migration in Dutch literature, creative writing, happiness in/and literature, and the literary industry.
Op de Beek is on the editorial board of Nederlandse Letterkunde, she is advisor to the Dutch Foundation for Literature (Nederlands Letterenfonds) and is a regular jury member for literary prizes, such as the BNG Bank Literature Prize, the P.C. Hooft Prize, the ANV Debutanten Prize and the Bob den Uyl Prize for Travel Literature. She

Op de Beek delivered Cees Nooteboom. Avenue – 15 jaar wereldliteratuur (De Bezige Bij 2013). Together with dr. Jos Muijres she co-edited Op de hielen: Opstellen over recente Nederlanse en Vlaamse literatuur (Vantilt, 2014) and with prof. dr. Rick Honings Animals in Dutch Travel Writing: 1800-Present (LUP, 2023).

Activities