Play is a uniquely adaptive act, not subordinate to some other adaptive act, but with a special function of its own in human experience.

Family
Huizinga's son Leonhard Huizinga became a well-known writer in the Netherlands especially renowned for his series of tongue-in-cheek fiction novels on the Dutch aristocratic twins Adrian and Oliver ("Adriaan en Olivier"). It was not until 1902 that his interest turned towards medieval and Renaissance history. Many similarities can be noted between his analysis and that of contemporary critics such as Ortega y Gasset and Oswald Spengler.

Johan Huizinga (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːɦɑn ˈɦœyzɪŋɣaː]) (Groningen December 7 1872 – De Steeg February 1 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history.