Rushdie on Norfolk and Multatuli

[Ya Sam]

' Lawrence Norfolk's Lempriere's Dictionary is a dazzling linguistic and 
formal achievement that takes on a rich and under-explored subject, the East 
India Company. ... It reminded me at times of the Dutch masterpiece of 
colonial trade, Multatuli's Max Havelaar'. (Step Across this Line, p.34)


Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company


When Max Havelaar was first published in Holland in 1860, it ignited a major 
political and social brouhaha. The novel, written by a former official of 
the Dutch East Indian Civil Service under the pen name Multatuli, exposed 
the massive corruption and cruelty rife in the Dutch colony of Java. Max 
Havelaar is an undeniably autobiographical novel; like his hero, 
Multatuli--the pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker--was an Assistant Resident 
of Lebak in Java; like Havelaar in the novel, he resigned his position when 
his accusations of corruption and abuse were disregarded by higher 
authorities, resulting in years of poverty for both author and fictional 
hero. Max Havelaar is told from several different perspectives; the reader 
first meets an Amsterdam coffee dealer named Droogstoppel, a man so obsessed 
with coffee that his every thought and action is governed by it. 
Droogstoppel has come by a manuscript from an old schoolmate who, down on 
his luck, has asked him to get it published. The schoolmate is Havelaar, and 
the manuscript relates his experiences as an idealistic and generous young 
civil servant who tries to protect the poor and bring justice to the 
powerless.
The central part of the novel details conditions in Java, particularly 
Havelaar's efforts to correct injustices in the face of a corrupt government 
system. That his efforts will prove futile soon becomes apparent, and there 
is something almost Greek in the inevitability of Havelaar's declining 
fortunes. Despite its tragic themes, Max Havelaar is savagely funny, 
particularly the chapters narrated by Droogstoppel, a character unmatched 
for his veniality, narrow-mindedness, or singular lack of understanding or 
imagination. Though Multatuli's masterpiece is nearly 150 years old, it 
wears its age well, and Roy Edwards's excellent translation offers 
English-speaking readers a wonderful opportunity to experience one of the 
Netherlands's great literary classics.

http://www.amazon.com/Max-Havelaar-Auctions-Trading-Classics/dp/0140445161/sr=1-1/qid=1161021475/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2579859-5605566?ie=UTF8&s=books

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