Conclusion: In the Image of Loss

Abstract

This concluding chapter presents the book’s most central contention: by examining the various ways in which ‘experiences of loss’ informed Huizinga’s work, this research shows not only that Huizinga’s histories responded to the challenges of his own times. Through an illustration of how experiences migrated into his historical output, the work also shows that Huizinga’s historical investigations became a way of living through sorrow and uncertainty. Huizinga’s historical output responded to the experiences by narrating them in a historically meaningful way. As such, his histories were not only passive recipients of experiences but also transformed his present and became a way of life in times of loss.