Codien Zwaardemaker-Visscher
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Codien Zwaardemaker-Visscher | |
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| Born | Jacobina Berendina Visscher 5 May 1835 Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Died | 4 August 1912 (aged 77) Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Occupation | Writer, translator and feminist |
| Notable works | Ada Bermuda (1881) Tante Agathe's voogdijschap, Onwettig toch recht (1897) |
| Spouse | Cornelis Zwaardemaker (m. 1856) |
| Children | 3 |
Jacobina Berendina Zwaardemaker-Visscher (5 May 1835 – 4 August 1912), more commonly known by her pseudonym Codien Zwaardemaker-Visscher, was a Dutch writer, translator, editor and feminist.
Early life and family
[edit]Zwaardemaker-Visscher was born on 5 May 1835 in Utrecht, Netherlands. Her parents were Mennonite pastor Jan Visscher and Lumina Visscher (née Loos).[1]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher was educated at the day school the Van Breemen sisters then at home.[1][2] Her two brothers received further education, becoming a notary and a preacher, and she found her comparative lack of education frustrating. She wrote in 1898 that she "sighed often among endless embroidery and frequent cup washing: och, if only I were one boy, then I could also study as my brother and become a pastor!."[1]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher married the bookseller, publisher and editor of the Nieuwsblad voor den Boekhandel trade publication[3] Cornelis Zwaardemaker on 8 August 1856 in Utrecht, Netherlands. They had three sons together, one of whom died in infancy.[1][4]
Career
[edit]Zwaardemaker-Visscher's first publication was the brochure Over opvoeding en emancipatie van der vrouw (1869), which covered girls' education.[5][6] She initially wrote under the pseudonym "Codien," a form of her husbands given name.[7] From 1871, she no longer published under a pseudonym, consciously choosing to use her own name as it was important to her that a woman could publish as an independent individual.[8]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher contributed to women's magazines, including Dutch magazine Onze Roeping and the British magazine Woman.[1] With her husband, Zwaardemaker-Visscher edited trilingual children's magazine Trio. Journal amusant en trois langues: français, anglais, allemand, pour la jeunesse from 1868 to 1871.[1]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher's novels Ada Bermuda (1881)[9] and De ruïne van den Oldenborgh (1885) both advocated for women's right to education and to hold public office.[10] Her novel Tante Agathe’s voogdijschap, Onwettig toch recht (1897) explored the idea that women should have the right to exercise legal guardianship over children.[11] She also opposed the requirement of docility and obedience in legal marriage in her writings.[12]
As a translator, Zwaardemaker-Visscher translated novels and short stories from German and English into Dutch. Her translations included works by George Eliot, Louisa May Alcott and Mrs. Compton Reade.[1][3][13]
Death and legacy
[edit]Zwaardemaker-Visscher died on 4 August 1912 in Utrecht, Netherlands, aged 77.[1]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher was a member of the Leesmuseum voor Vrouwen in Amsterdam. Two autographed pictures of her are held in the collection of the Letterkundig Museum in The Hague.[2]
Zwaardemaker-Visscher's niece Rinskje Visscher was the first female municipal archivist in the Netherlands.[14]
Publications
[edit]- Ada Bermuda (1881)
- De ruïne van den Oldenborgh (1885)
- Grootmoeder. Eene familiegeschiedenis (1892)
- Sterk in leed. Een familieroman (1894)
- Tante Agathe’s voogdijschap, Onwettig toch recht (1897)
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jensen, Lotte (25 March 2024). "Visscher, Jacobina Berendina (1835-1912)". Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 4 July 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- 1 2 "Zwaardemaker-Visscher, Jacoba Berendina (1835 - 1912)". shewrote.rich.ru.nl. Archived from the original on 30 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- 1 2 Toremans, Tom; Verschueren, Walter (2009). "George Eliot on the Dutch Market (1860-1896)". Crossing Cultures: Nineteenth-century Anglophone Literature in the Low Countries. Leuven University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-90-5867-733-4. Archived from the original on 6 January 2026. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ↑ Brood, P. (1991). Respect voor de oude orde: honderd jaar Vereniging van Archivarissen in Nederland (in Dutch). Uitgeverij Verloren. p. 95. ISBN 978-90-71251-12-2.
- ↑ Everard, Myriam (2010). Everard, Myriam; Jansz, Ulla (eds.). "De waarheid te bevorderen, altijd en overal. Titia van der Tuuk en het vrije denken als feministisch program" (PDF). De Minotaurus Onzer Zeden: Multatuli Als Heraut van het Feminisme (in Dutch). Aksant: 95. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ Derkx, Peter (1998). Voor menselijkheid of tegen godsdienst?: Humanisme in Nederland, 1850 - 1960 (in Dutch). Uitgeverij Verloren. p. 28. ISBN 978-90-6550-589-7. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ↑ Van Boven, Erica (1998). "Het pseudoniem als strategie. Pseudoniemen van vrouwelijke auteurs 1850-1900" (PDF). Nederlandse Letterkunde (in Dutch). 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 January 2026. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ Jensen, Lotte (2006). "Lotte Jensen Trots op haar eigen naam: Codien Zwaardemaker-Visscher". Filter Tijdschrift over Vertalen (in Dutch). 13: 21. Archived from the original on 30 December 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ Het Leeskabinet (in Dutch). Hendrik Frijlink. 1892. p. 34. Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
- ↑ "Vrouwenemancipatie 'Och, was ik maar een jongen'". Literatuurgeschiedenis (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 7 November 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ Duijm, N. J. (24 August 2024). Van 'Nieuwe Vrouw' tot 'Flapper': De representatie van de 'moderne vrouw' in Nederland, 1894-1927 (in Dutch). Universiteit Leiden. p. 15. hdl:1887/4093332. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ Braun, Marianne (1992). De prijs van de liefde: de eerste feministische golf, het huwelijksrecht en de vaderlandse geschiedenis (in Dutch). Het Spinhuis. p. 55. ISBN 978-90-73052-33-8.
- ↑ Shaffer, Elinor; Brown, Catherine (11 February 2016). The Reception of George Eliot in Europe. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4411-9022-2.
- ↑ Kuiken, Kees (25 March 2024). "Visscher, Rinskje (1868-1950)". Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
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