Elizabeth ("Betje") Wolff-Bekker (24 July 1738 – 5 November 1804) was a Dutch novelist who, withAgatha "Aagje" Deken, wrote several popularepistolary novels such asSara Burgerhart (1782) andWillem Levend (1784).
Bekker was born into a wealthyCalvinist family atVlissingen. On 18 November 1759, at the age of 21, she married the 52-year-old clergyman Adriaan Wolff. In 1763, she published her first collectionBespiegelingen over het genoegen ('Reflections on Pleasure'). After her husband's death in 1777, she lived for a time withAagje Deken in France.[1] From then on the two women published their work together; it is somewhat difficult to determine the exact qualities contributed by each, though many believe that Wolff was the main author due to her wider acclaim before their pairing.[1] They specialized inepistolary novels in the mold ofSamuel Richardson.[2]
Because of theirPatriotic sympathies, they moved toTrévoux inBurgundy in 1788. In1789, they publishedWandelingen door Bourgogne. Wolff was exposed to some of the dangers of theFrench Revolution, and, it is said, escaped theguillotine only by her great presence of mind. More important though was her translation of the Swiss abolitionist Benjamin Sigismond Frossard in 1790. In 1795 she returned to the Netherlands and resided atthe Hague till her death there at the age of 66.[3]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bekker, Elizabeth".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 661.
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