Dutch feminist writer and translator.
She was the daughter of the preacher Nicolaus Lambertus van der Tuuk (4 October 1821, Noordbroek – 25 December 1867, Nieuwolda) and Petronella Helena Clasina Lenting (25 March 1822, Zutphen – 27 February 1900, Arnhem), a writer of Christian children’s literature. Her grandfather Johannes Lenting (1791-1853) was a PhD man of classical literature and letters, professor and rector at Groningen University. They married on 24 February 1846 in Groningen and got seven children.
Van der Tuuk initially worked as a teacher, but had to give up her course because of deafness. Her atheistic way of thinking led to a lot of resistance. After 1885 she started translating foreign literature into Dutch (such as War and peace of Leo Tolstoy ) and writing children’s literature and historical novels. In her activism she was an advocate of atheism , total abstention , vegetarianism and pacifism . She was a member of the Haarlem branch of of the freethinkers association De Dageraad (The Dawn). This liberal association strived to use reason, natural science and logic to liberate humanity from prejudices, clerical paternalism, dogmas and false truths. She corresponded with Multatuli. Dekker’s feminist IDEEN (Ideas) was a great source of inspiration for her. As an author she often uses the pseudonym Vitalis (derived from vita , meaning ‘life’ in Latin). She never married.
Van der Tuuk published his own magazine between 1895 and 1897 entitled Excelsior: Monthly magazine for young ladies. The target group were girls who had just finished school and the magazine was filled with stories, poetry and reviews about things that applied to girls. There were also short pieces of text in other languages, about which Van der Tuuk wrote that they were good to promote the language knowledge of the readers.
She died 7 may 1939 in Zeist.
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