Product Description

Max Havelaar - a Dutch civil servant in Java - burns with an insatiable desire to end the ill treatment and oppression inflicted on the native peoples by the colonial administration. Max is an inspirational figure, but he is also a flawed idealist whose vow to protect the Javanese from cruelty ends in his own downfall. In Max Havelaar, Multatuli (the pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker) vividly recreated his own experiences in Java and tellingly depicts the hypocrisy of those who gained from the corrupt coffee trade. Sending shockwaves through the Dutch nation when it was published in 1860, this damning exposé of the terrible conditions in the colonies led to welfare reforms in Java and continues to inspire the fairtrade movement today. Roy Edwards’s vibrant translation conveys the satirical and innovative style of Multatuli’s autobiographical polemic. In his introduction, R. P. Meijer discusses the author’s tempestuous life and career, the controversy the novel aroused and its unusual narrative structure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104123 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Multatuli is the pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887). After 18 years of civil service in the Dutch East Indies, he returned to Europe in 1856 a disillusioned man. The way the natives were treated by their own as well as by the Dutch rulers offended him so much that he resigned after a public conflict. In his novel Max Havelaar he recorded his experiences. The book was published in 1860 and made him an instant success. Encouraged by this public acclaim, he decided to pursue a career as a writer. He became a sort of national conscience, inspiring emancipatory movements such as freethinkers, socialists and anarchists. Multatuli's career as a writer lasted exactly as long as his career as an official: 18 years. Then, once more profoundly disillusioned, he decided to give up writing and took refuge in Germany, where he died in February 1887.

Customer Reviews

Masterpiece by Ducth author Multatuli
When I first started reading "Max Havelaar" by Multatuli (latin, ="I have suffered much", pseudonym for Edaurd Douwes Dekker), all I knew was 1) it was about the oppression of the indigenous population of Indonesia (Dutch India), and 2) it was supposed to be the only (!) piece of world literature written in Dutch.

On this background, I was at first a little disappointed with the book, as it seemed to focus extensively on the author himself (the novel is largely autobiographical). Douwes Dekker was forced to resign as a Dutch official in Indonesia after he had pointed to the oppression going on in his district. In his book he appears like a pouting child saying "You're stupid 'cause you wouldn't let me play with you anymore."

This impression, however, did not last. There's a very touching passage where the suffering of a young couple (Saïdjah and Adinda) is described, and it becomes clear that Douwes Dekker's / Havelaar's fight with the Dutch regime started because he so desparately wanted to help the people whose protector he had pledged to be.

The literary style of "Max Havelaar" is very innovative for the 19th century. Contrary to his contemporaries, whose language was artificial and stilted, Multatuli used the everyday spoken language of his time, creating a language tone which was quite unique.

The appearance of several narrators is another innovative technique. Multatuli uses the none too sympathetic coffee dealer Batavus Droogstoppel as a contrast to Max Havelaar, making the circumstances around him appear clearer and strengthening the reader's sympathy for Havelaar.

Having read the whole book, I now understand why it is recognized as a masterpiece. Multatuli knows how to chain events and strings of narration together and keep his audience interested. The topic is certainly one that should interest everyone, and it is still an important subject of debate today, because even if Indonesia is no longer ruled by the Dutch, people in many parts of the world are still being oppressed.

I gave it up halfway
I am usually patient with books, especially with classics that have a high reputation such as this. But the procrastination in this one was simply too much. Half way into the book -- literally halfway i.e. with as many pages beneath my left thumb as beneath my right thumb -- you still wonder where the story, if there is any, is going. Unsettling is the fact that the author seems to be conscious of this but does nothing about it. He would plead with the "dear reader" to excuse the many digressions, and right after that he would embark in precisely another digression. Since this is a book in which it is not easy to keep track with names, you not only digress, you get lost. Was the author willingly playing games or is this simply an unfinished book? I'll go for the latter on account of the brilliant passages I read in the first half. If Multatuli had been given more encouragement by the public during his writer's career, he could have produced great things, including a revised, re-ordered version of "Max Havelaar". For one has no doubt, when reading this book, that a special literary talent is at work. This is a counterexample of the assumption that an unrecognised genius will produce great work. This genius threw in the towel and gave an unfinished, unstructured job to the printers.