Rick Honings (Heerlen, 1984) is a Dutch literature scholar at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), who specializes in nineteenth-century Dutch and Dutch Indies literature. As of 2020 he is Scaliger professor as an ambassador for the Special Collections at Leiden University Libraries. Honings is editor-in-chief of the journal Indische Letteren. Tijdschrift van de Werkgroep Indisch-Nederlandse Letterkunde.
Quote
We have seen that in the Netherlands a peculiar link existed between Calvinism and celebrity, especially clear in the cases of Bilderdijk and Da Costa. This phenomenon was characteristic of the Netherlands where Protestantism was all-encompassing. Both Bilderdijk and Da Costa were not only well-known poets, but also became famous (or infamous) as orthodox-Calvinist mentors. Nicolaas Beets and François HaverSchmidt became famous authors during their student years. This too is a phenomenon characteristic of the Dutch situation. Being students these authors had the freedom to experiment within the literary context. Finally, authors were strongly influenced by literary examples from abroad. Beets and HaverSchmidt did not shy away from modelling their images as lookalikes of international authors like Byron or Heine.
—Rick Honings, Star Authors in the Age of Romanticism: Literary Celebrity in the Netherlands, Amsterdam University Press, 2018, pp. 224-225.
Publications
Honing's publications include:
in English
Honings, Rick (2017). "Travelling through the Emerald Belt: A Plea for a Post-Colonial Double Perspective". In Reeuwijk, Alexander (ed.). Voyage of discovery. Exploring the collections of the Asian library of Leiden University. Leiden: Leiden University Press. pp.166–177. ISBN9789087282745. OCLC990548766. 335 pages.
Jedamski, Doris; Honings, Rick, eds. (2023). Travelling the Dutch East Indies. Historical Perspectives and Literary Representations. Hilversum: Verloren. ISBN9789464550450. OCLC1370641869. 229 pages.
in Dutch
Honings, Rick (2011). Geleerdheids zetel, Hollands roem!: het literaire leven in Leiden 1760-1860[Seat of learning, Dutch glory!: literary life in Leiden 1760-1860] (in Dutch). Leiden: Primavera Pers. ISBN9789059971141. OCLC1024185891. PhD thesis Leiden, 497 pages.
Honings, Rick (2016). De dichter als idool. Literaire roem in de negentiende eeuw[The Poet as Idol. Literary Fame in the Nineteenth Century] (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Bert Bakker. ISBN9789035144316. OCLC937416602. 511 pages.
Honings, Rick; van 't Veer, Coen; Bel, Jacqueline, eds. (2021). De postkoloniale spiegel. De Nederlands-Indische letteren herlezen[The Postcolonial Mirror. Rereading Dutch-Indonesian Literature] (in Dutch). Leiden: Leiden University Press. ISBN9789087283735. OCLC1259044962. 536 pages.
Honings, Rick (2023). De ontdekking van Insulinde. Op reis in Nederlands-Indië in de negentiende eeuw[The Discovery of Insulinde. Traveling in the Dutch East Indies in the nineteenth century] (in Dutch). Amsterdam: Prometheus. ISBN9789044645408. OCLC1395131743. 555 pages.
Honings, Rick; Jensen, Lotte (2019). Romantici en revolutionairen. Literatuur en schrijverschap in Nederland in de 18de en 19de eeuw. Amsterdam: Prometheus. ISBN9789044630770. OCLC1112596383. 407 pages.
Awards
Erik Hazelhoff Biografieprijs 2014 (biography award), from the Stichting Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Prijs foundation, shared with co-author Peter van Zonneveld for the literary biography De gefnuikte arend. Het leven van Willem Bilderdijk, 2013.
Gerrit Komrij-prijs 2013, likewise shared with co-author Peter van Zonneveld, also for De gefnuikte arend. Het leven van Willem Bilderdijk, 2013.
Shortlist Libris Geschiedenis Prijs 2024 (Libris History Prize, history book award), nomination for De ontdekking van Insulinde (The Discovery of Insulinde).
↑"Indische Letteren" [Indonesian Letters. Journal of the Working Group on Indo-Dutch Literature]. Tijdschrift van de Werkgroep Indisch-Nederlandse Letterkunde. Werkgroep Indisch-Nederlandse Letterkunde. ISSN0920-6949. OCLC1055691051.
↑"Juryrapport Gerrit Komrij-prijs 2013". neerlandistiek.nl (in Dutch). Neerlandistiek. Online tijdschrift voor taal- en letterkunde. Retrieved 7 August 2025.