`Als een steen in oprimpelend water.' Regionaliteit en Jef Lasts Zuiderzee (1934)

This article takes a closer look at what happens if one tries to read Jef Last's novel Zuiderzee (1934) as if it were a regional novel. This might seem odd, for Zuiderzee, a novel on the construction of the 'Afsluitdijk', is usually catalogued as a sample of 'Nieuwe zake-lijkheid' or as a social novel. Questions under consideration have to do with the way typical markers of regionality (toponymy, dialect, folklore) function ill a novel aiming at a 'supra-regional' reader, with the construction of national/regional identities, with the novel's apparent refusal to take position when regional and national or even international interests are contrasted, and with the relation all this holds with the sharp criticism on the genre at the time of publication.