This article combines linguistic, rhetorical and material perspectives on early modern reader management in order to investigate how the Dutch historian P. C. Hooft (1581–1647) guided his readers through a new genre: humanist history written in the vernacular. Central to this paper is the linguistic construction begin+infinitive, which is known to have text-structuring functions in several historical varieties. Study of this construction in historical Dutch, however, is currently lacking. Although the Roman historian Tacitus, Hooft’s classical writing model, largely avoided the begin+infinitive construction, Hooft used it in his translations of Tacitus’s prose and in his own magnum opus, the Nederlandsche Historien (Dutch Histories, first edition 1642). More specifically, Hooft employed the construction as part of his humanist tempo-changing style, using begin’s durative semantics in combination with rhetorical devices to slow the narrative pace and to alert the reader to an upcoming main event. Such main events were highlighted not only by linguistic and rhetorical guidance but also by material devices, i.e. printed marginalia.

中文翻译：

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早期现代读者管理：开始+不定式作为 PC Hooft 荷兰散文中的话语标记

本文结合了早期现代读者管理的语言、修辞和材料观点，以研究荷兰历史学家 PC Hooft（1581-1647）如何引导他的读者通过一种新的体裁：用白话写成的人文主义历史。本文的核心是语言结构begin+infinitive，众所周知它在几个历史变体中具有文本结构功能。然而，目前缺乏对历史荷兰语中这种结构的研究。尽管胡夫特的古典写作模式罗马历史学家塔西佗在很大程度上避免了开始+不定式结构，但胡夫特在他对塔西佗散文的翻译和他自己的代表作《荷兰历史》（荷兰历史）中使用了它。，第一版 1642）。更具体地说，霍夫特将这种结构作为他的人文主义节奏变化风格的一部分，使用开始的持续语义与修辞手段相结合来减缓叙事节奏并提醒读者注意即将到来的主要事件。此类主要事件不仅通过语言和修辞指导而且通过物质手段（即印刷的边际）突出显示。