The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (Vintage) [ペーパーバック]

From the outset, Schama shows us a people whose success is based on a shared moral vision that utterly permeates their art and literature. In this country, we tend to be fixated on the art of England, France, and Italy, with a few side-trips to Germany, Russia, and the Orient. Before Schama, I thought of the Netherlands as an "auxiliary" country with no particular vision of its own.

I am delighted to have been proven wrong. THE EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES carries its theme like a mighty wave through hundreds of pages that read like a short essay. Here is this little country retrieved largely from the sea and mud, surrounded by powerful enemies who have repeatedly invaded and savaged it, and yet prevailing in its gentle and remarkably tolerant essence over the centuries. One does not survive this level of pain as a people unless one learns the lessons of cooperation, of tolerance, and of humor.

Several weeks ago, I found myself in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. My attention was riveted by a still life of cut-up fruit and seafood that I had seen before, but never stopped to examine. This time I did and looked more closely. Swarming or buzzing over the food were a small army of ants and other insects. The painters of the Golden Age were trying to teach us a lesson, gently, of the transitoriness of all that is good and beautiful. Life is good now, but the waters and the nations are building up for another assault.

At its best, the book offers lovely descriptions of such varied subjects as midwives, a brief fascination with beached whales, sex, diet, and charity, to name just a few. Many of the details along the way that need explanation are very briefly referred to, such as the 80-year War of independence from Spain, the difficulties with France as Louis XIV sought to expand his national territory, and the fabulous technological achievement of reclaiming much of the land from sea silt. The reader is treated to a grand political experiment along with the art. WHen I next go there, my experience will be immeasurably enriched.

However, at its worst, Schama appeared to me to be showing off his erudition, which is truly incredible and hence describing way way too much while not covering more of the basics. While this certainly points to the weaknesses of my own education in history, I doubt that many readers would know the mechanisms of Dutch economic superiority or why the Tulip mania could occur there and not in Antwerp or Venice. Instead, for example, Schama devotes over 30 pages to describing how much they ate, drank, and smoked referring innumerable obscure artists and interpreting all of the details of composition and subject matter in individual works. Yes, the prose is luminous, but why so awfully much??! It is really more of a multi-layered essay that will have to be re-read, if the reader has time and the will to invest in it.

Moreover, the end of the book is rushed and becomes less and less coherent at the moment when the reader is hoping that it will somehow get all tied together with an overview. The references in the last 100 pages become more obscure and recondite, requiring ever greater knowledge on the part of the reader as explanations disappear. And the epilogue did absolutely nothing for me and was for the most part incomprehensible.

Recommended with these caveats in mind. It is not for beginners! But the pleasures are many and it will change your view of Holland forever, as a great book should.

The author Simon Schama (1945 - ) is a well-known Oxbridge historian of English Jewish heritage, who was teaching at Harvard University when he wrote this work, but who is now based at Columbia University. His interests have included European and other social, cultural and art history, which is evident in the book's content and approach.

The book explains how rebellion against the Spanish empire's cultural and religious oppression was the primary cause of the developing independent Dutch collective personality and national patriotism. As a result a wealthy republic, which temporarily led the European world in trade, art and science, was successfully created out of a loose assortment of agricultural, fishing and shipping communities of diverse languages and religious denominations. However, the consequence of this prosperity was an embarrassing ethical dilemma that dominated and shaped Dutch culture, beliefs and practices. Thus, the book emphasises the paradoxical moral tension between worldly riches and homely piety.

In telling this story, Schama demonstrates an impressive capacity to inject life, vitality and insight into history. The Embarrassment of Riches displays signs of Schama's later increasing tendency to experiment imaginatively with historical analysis, to draw from other academic subjects, and to acknowledge awareness of the potential autobiographical and subjective bias in historical works. Yet in general, Schama combines a moderately conventional understanding of the study of history, such as the desirability of factual objectivity about past events, with an entertaining, innovative and creative approach to presentation.

Thus, the work is likely to be enjoyable and informative for both academic historians as well as the general reading public with an interest in the subject area, and is probably Schama's most engaging and accessible work (compared with, for example, his immense study Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, New York, 1989). Its argument is clearly defined and the sections of the book are well connected, with relevant references to documentary, pictorial and other resources, which while easily available do not distract from the flow of the text.

Schama's approach has been influenced by a number of historians or other social and cultural theorists, including in a manner characteristic of the growing subdiscipline of cultural history. In this regard, Schama has taken into account the wider cultural milieu including the social, political, economic, religious, moral, and other dimensions that can increase a reader's ability to understand the development of Dutch culture and wealth during the seventeenth century's `golden era'. The cultural perspective adopted is therefore much more far ranging than that confined to elite high `Culture', but rather promotes an inclusive democratization of the concepts of culture and history that suits the subject matter. A broad range of ordinary stories, people and events are included in order to promote a fuller comprehension of human life, experience and context.

However, such a broad approach increases the risk that the book's cultural themes and other issues are handled in a complex and awkward manner, or that factual errors, unbalanced emphases and lack of coherence mar the text. Nevertheless, with the exception of a possible overemphasis upon the province of Holland and the city of Amsterdam relative to other regions of the Netherlands, Schama has largely dealt with the material and issues deftly and competently.

Hence, the book has far more strengths than weaknesses in terms of sources, approach, content and presentation. The result is a profoundly enriching and eclectic portrait of the Dutch people and their emerging cultural identity, which brings the past to life.