My research project ‘Adaptation and the Heritage of the Sixties’ focuses on the shifting appreciation of the heritage of the sixties. The cultural transformation that commenced in this mythical decade has been of major normative influence on Western society, particularly in the sociocultural domain. Many of the perceived achievements considered natural in this day and age are associated with the democratizing and emancipatory developments of the sixties. However, in contemporary society, this heritage of the sixties is subject to debate. This especially is remarkable in the Netherlands, since in this particular era, the country developed from a rather inward and paternalistic nation into a progressive and tolerant society.

Using the sequential adaptations of Dutch literary texts from the sixties – e.g. the novel Turks fruit (1969), the subsequent movie (1973) and musical (2006) of the same name – I will trace and explain the continuous (re)construction of the myth of the sixties. This project is hereby situated within the discipline of adaptation studies: adaptations are understood as reflexive spaces where implicit and/or explicit ideological assumptions are being reconsidered. This project outlines how literary texts from the sixties enter into a discussion with their contemporary counterparts and how adaptations pass on the heritage of the sixties in an altered form.

• Supervisor: prof. dr. Thomas Vaessens

• Supervisor: dr. Gaston Franssen

• No ancillary activities
• Stichting VSB Poëzieprijs
  Secretaris bestuur en jury