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Max Havelaar
Jun. 3rd, 2007 11:50 amI have just finished Max Havelaar by Multatuli - 
. It's a very interesting read - a 19th century Dutch novel, written to highlight the injustices of the Dutch control of Java. The author - Eduard Douwes Dekker (Multatuli is a pseudonym) - was not pleased that people found it 'entertaining' - and yet it is, for various reasons (all of which make it a 'Classic', rather than a book-of-its-time). Firstly, the author uses a most interesting narrative structure, with multiple voices which continually calls attention to the fictitious nature of the narrative - Charlotte Bronte's "Reader, I married him" pales into insiginificance. Secondly, the book genuinely is entertaining: there are parts where I felt the description of politicing in the Indies was too long, but mostly the movement from one kind of writing to another is done so neatly, at exactly the right point, that oral storytelling techniques, humour, description, dialogue and suspense are all played in turn in an elegant sufficiency.
Also fascinating those words which Multatuli felt needed glosses which are now familiar to English readers: gong, batik, sarong, gamalan.
. It's a very interesting read - a 19th century Dutch novel, written to highlight the injustices of the Dutch control of Java. The author - Eduard Douwes Dekker (Multatuli is a pseudonym) - was not pleased that people found it 'entertaining' - and yet it is, for various reasons (all of which make it a 'Classic', rather than a book-of-its-time). Firstly, the author uses a most interesting narrative structure, with multiple voices which continually calls attention to the fictitious nature of the narrative - Charlotte Bronte's "Reader, I married him" pales into insiginificance. Secondly, the book genuinely is entertaining: there are parts where I felt the description of politicing in the Indies was too long, but mostly the movement from one kind of writing to another is done so neatly, at exactly the right point, that oral storytelling techniques, humour, description, dialogue and suspense are all played in turn in an elegant sufficiency. Also fascinating those words which Multatuli felt needed glosses which are now familiar to English readers: gong, batik, sarong, gamalan.
