'Abraham Blankaart. Een literair icoon als antwoord op het vaderlands tekort', in: Joris van Eijnatten, Fred van Lieburg en Hans de Waardt (eds.), Heiligen of helden. Opstellen voor Willem Frijhoff, Amsterdam 2007, p.253-264. The idea that the Dutch formed ‘a nation of idolators at the shrine of Mammon’ was a commonplace among foreigners in the 18th century. At the end of that century even Dutchmen submitted that many of their countrymen and –women too readily sacrificed their honour, virtue and country to their love of money. A vice once firmly linked to a specific social type, the merchant, had apparently become characteristic for a whole nation. A counteroffensive was clearly called for. Dutch patriots urged their fellow citizens to engage in a moral revival. In the front ranks we find a famous couple of women writers, Elizabeth Wolff-Bekker and Agatha Deken, two of the few female authors admitted to the Dutch canon of literature. With Abraham Blankaart, one of the central characters in their epistolary novel Sara Burgerhart (1782), they created a representative of the Dutch merchant class who became enormously popular among their readers. The publisher even asked for a follow-up which was published in 1787-1789 under the title Brieven van Abraham Blankaart. What was the secret of Blankaart’s success? Wolff & Deken presented the fictional character of Blankaart as the exemplification of nearly lost Dutch virtues which were believed to have once shaped the nation: honest, plain, straightforward, tolerant, devout, diligent, economical, patriotic, bold, pragmatic, sensible ánd also sensitive – a reader could not help but like this sympathetic bachelor, always willing to help others. Obviously, this idealization of the original Dutch character left little room for greed. Blankaart (whose name literally means a ‘pure disposition’ in Dutch) manifested himself as a truly generous person who even admonished others for their avarice. While Blankaart devoted most of his time to the moral upbringing of youngsters among his acquaintances, his letters fail to enlighten us about his professional activities as merchant. This was not a coincidence. Wolff & Deken principally put investments in education before investments in the economy. Making money might be important but it should not be the most important thing in life for a Dutchman, as was demonstrated in the decisions Blankaart took in his life. What is more, details about Blankaart’s business would reduce his credibility as the universal merchant in the novel. To promote the identification of the reader with this right-minded icon of Dutchness, it was better to leave some things to the imagination of the reader.