Jan De Vries Popular Books

Jan De Vries Biography & Facts

Jan Pieter Marie Laurens de Vries (11 February 1890 – 23 July 1964) was a Dutch philologist, linguist, religious studies scholar, folklorist, educator, writer, editor and public official who specialized in Germanic studies. A polyglot, de Vries studied Dutch, German, Sanskrit and Pali at the University of Amsterdam from 1907 to 1913, and gained a PhD in Nordic languages from the University of Leiden in 1915 with great distinction. Subsequently, authoring a number of important works on a variety of subjects, de Vries was in 1926 appointed Chair of Ancient Germanic Linguistics and Philology at the University of Leiden. In subsequent years, de Vries played an important role at Leiden as an administrator and lecturer, while publishing a number of important works on Germanic religion and Old Norse literature. Combined with his university duties, de Vries was a leading member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde and the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature, led several civil organizations, edited a number of encyclopedias and magazines, and was instrumental in establishing folklore studies as a scientific discipline. De Vries collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. When democracy was restored in the Netherlands in 1945, he was imprisoned for several years, fired from his university, expelled from the learned societies in which had previously been a leading member, and deprived of the right to vote. He eventually received permission to work as a secondary school teacher in Oostburg. Living in isolation, and with his entire library having been destroyed during the war, de Vries committed himself to writing. In subsequent years, he authored a number of influential works on Celtic religion, Old Norse and Dutch etymology, and revised second editions of his works on Germanic religion and Old Norse literature. His works on these subjects have formed a central basis for modern research, and have remained standard texts up to the present day. Early life Jan Pieter Marie Laurens de Vries was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 11 February 1890. He was the son of the teacher Laurens de Vries, and Anthonetta Christina Vermast. After having graduated from the Hogere Burgerschool, de Vries studied Dutch, German, Sanskrit and Pali under Jan te Winkel at the University of Amsterdam from 1909 to 1913, where he received his BA and MA with great distinction. De Vries became a polyglot. He gained his PhD at the University of Leiden in 1915 under the supervision of Richard Constant Boer. His dissertation, Studiën over Faerörsche balladen (1915), examined Faroese literature, and was received with critical acclaim. De Vries was drafted into the Dutch Army in 1914, serving in North Brabant during World War I. He retired as an officer in 1919. De Vries recounted his experiences in the war in the novel Een singeling in the mass (1918), which was published under the pseudonym Jan van Lokeren. De Vries was appointed a high school teacher in Arnhem in 1919. In 1920 de Vries was on a four-month study trip to Norway, where he became acquainted with the Scandinavian and Finnish language. Contemporary with his teaching duties in Arnhem, de Vries wrote a number of important works, including De Wikingen in de lage landen bij de zee (1923), Henrik Ibsen (1924), and Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (1925). Career at the University of Leiden In 1926, de Vries was appointed Chair of Ancient Germanic Linguistics and Philology at the University of Leiden. This post also covered Indo-European studies. At Leiden, de Vries taught Indo-European and Germanic linguistics, with a particular focus on the literature of the early Germanic peoples. Reconstructing early Germanic culture and presenting it to the public became a lifelong passion for de Vries. At Leiden, de Vries distinguished himself as a teacher, organizer and scholar of unusual ability and productivity. Students of de Vries would later describe him as a brilliant teacher, and his ability in this regard is substantiated by the large number of influential doctoral thesises that were completed under his supervision. He was a gifted and highly productive writer, with an unusual ability to analyze and present difficult problems in a clear manner. This enabled him to write a number of successful works intended for popular audiences. De Germaansche Oudheid (1930) by de Vries introduced the ancient Germanic peoples to the Dutch public, and was a great success. It was later published in a second edition under title De Germanen (1941). He was the editor and driving force behind the fifth edition of Winkler Prins's Algemene Encyclopedie (General Encyclopedia), which was published in 16 volumes in 1932–1938. From 1934 to 1939, de Vries was chairman of the prestigious Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde. By the early 1930s, de Vries was recognized as the world's foremost authority on Germanic religion. As such, de Vries was requested to write the volume on Germanic religion for Hermann Paul's Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie. The resulting Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (1935-1937) was published in German in two volumes. In Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, de Vries expressed opposition to Nordicism and doubts about the continuity of Germanic culture up until modern times, which put him at odds with the dominant Nazi ideology in Germany at the time. His translation of the Edda was published in 1938, and reprinted in 1971. It has been described as "a small literary masterpiece". In 1938, with sponsorship from the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde and the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature, he established the Bibliotheek der Nederlandsche letteren, a series of Dutch literary works. During the 1930s, de Vries argued strongly in favor of establishing folklore studies as a distinct scientific discipline. He believed that fairy tales could be considered extensions of myths. In 1934, he helped establish the Interuniversitaire Commissie ter Voorbereiding van een Volkskundeatlas. In 1937, he was appointed Chairman of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore. He was also editor of the folklore magazine Folk. It was thanks to De efforts of de Vries that folklore study was established as a scientific discipline in the Netherlands in the 1930s. In 1938, de Vries was admitted to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was appointed Chairman of its Folklore Committee. World War II During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany during World War II, de Vries served as vice-chairman of the Nederlandsche Kultuurkamer, whose approval was required for any artistic or literary production in the Netherlands during this time. In 1940, shortly after the Battle of the Netherlands, de Vries authored the pamphlet Naar een betere toekomst (Toward a Better Future), where he expressed his opposition to democracy and argued in favor of a German victory in the war. From 1940 to 1941, d.... Discover the Jan De Vries popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jan De Vries books.