Bekker, Elizabeth (1738–1804)

Dutch poet and novelist. She showed vivacity and independent wit in her Economische liedjes/Economic Ditties 1780. The epistolary novel Sara Burgerhart (1782) was modelled on the work of the English novelist Samuel Richardson. It was followed by the eight-volume Willem Levend (1785).

Bekker was born in Vlissingen. As a widow she shared a home with the less gifted Aagje Deken, with whom she wrote Sara Burgerhart. She was an admirer of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.