Authors

Dutch · 1860–1932

Frederik van Eeden

Frederik van Eeden was a Dutch writer, psychiatrist, and social reformer whose novel De kleine Johannes (1887) — an allegorical fairy story about a boy's search for the Book of Wisdom — launched the Dutch Tachtigers literary movement and remains the most celebrated work of Dutch Symbolism. He co-founded the Walden commune in 1898 (inspired by Thoreau) and spent his later years as a Catholic convert. He also conducted important early research into sleep and dreams.