June 1998 marks the centenary of the creation by Frederik van Eeden of "Walden", a community of like-minded souls on the outskirts of Hilversum in the Netherlands. The colony took its name from the more renowned lakeside residence of the American author Henry David Thoreau, a figure van Eeden admired whilst differing from him in many ways: whilst Thoreau chose to live in isolation and sharpen the weapon of civil disobedience later to be used successfully in the Indian struggle for independence, van Eeden sought always to put his socially innovative ideas into practice, and one example of this was the creation of the Walden community which was intended to be self-supporting and a prototype for future systems of communal living.

Born in 1860 in Haarlem, the Netherlands, Frederik van Eeden attained fame as doctor, psychiatrist, novelist, idealist and seeker after world reform. He studied first as a doctor in Amsterdam and followed this by a study in psychiatry in Paris. His first literary success came with the novel De kleine Johannes (Little John) in which he uses the classic fairy-tale format as a vehicle for advanced ideas about our relationship with nature and the environment. Later followed the psychological novel Van de koele meren des doods (The cool waters of death) which follows the tragical history of a sensitive young woman's failure to come to terms with the rigidity of conventional 19th-century Dutch society.

His impatience with society in general and Dutch society in particular is typified by the Walden project, which attracted a variety of strange, mostly artistic, followers - in van Eeden's own words "a poor artist with a large family who wanted to live cheaply in order to continue with his painting; a group of young poets to whom the idyllic country life had a strong romantic appeal; overstressed city workers who sought fresh air; a true 'failed genius' who combined eloquence, lofty thoughts, debts and little energy for working; poor farm labourers for whom the simplicity of life here is luxury itself; rogues, who came to lay about at other people's expense; and - worst of all - social fanatics with principles for which they were prepared to sacrifice others". At the same time, van Eeden was active in various socialist organizations and played an important part in protests against the law passed in 1903 to limit industrial action, yet too much of an individualist to espouse the socialist cause completely.

After nine years the colony, like so many noble enterprises, came to grief due to insolvency and disagreement among its members. The manner in which this occurred was seen by van Eeden as the final defeat, and he resolved to say farewell to his country of birth. He made frequent visits to the USA and was welcomed there as "foremost poet and writer, the William Morris of the present day"; an attempt followed to set up a Van Eeden colony in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In his philosophical writing, van Eeden deserted the Dutch language, and some of his important works including The spiritual conquest of the world, an appeal to "royal spirits" everywhere, were originally written in German. His attempt to form a world literary circle, including such names as the French Romain Rolland, Upton Sinclair from the USA and the German philosopher Martin Buber, was halted by the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. In later years he showed an interest in spiritualism and sought inspiration in the works of mystics such as Ruusbroec, Eckhart and especially Jacob Boehme. He died in 1932.

Source (mainly): introduction by Esteban López to the 1971 Arcanum edition of "De geestelijke verovering der wereld"

29 December 1997

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