Page "Conrad Busken Huet" Paragraph 3

Returning from the Dutch East Indies, Busken Huet settled for the remainder of his life in Paris.

For the last quarter of a century he had been the acknowledged dictator in all questions of Dutch literary taste.

Perfectly honest, desirous to be sympathetic, widely read, and devoid of all sectarian obstinacy, Busken Huet introduced into Holland the light and air of Europe.

He made it his business to break down the narrow prejudices and the still narrower self-satisfaction of his countrymen, without endangering his influence by a mere effusion of paradox.

He was a brilliant writer, who would have been admired in any language, but whose appearance in a literature so stiff and dead as that of Holland in the fifties was dazzling enough to produce a sort of awe and stupefaction.

The posthumous correspondence of Busken Huet has been published, and adds to our impression of the vitality and versatility of his mind.

Also, Huet used papers by Peter Thaborita for his description of Pier Gerlofs Donia.