Eduard Douwes Dekker (2 March 182019 February 1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli (from Latin multa tulī, "I have suffered much"), was a Dutch writer best known for his satirical novel Max Havelaar (1860), which denounced the abuses of colonialism in the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia). He is considered one of the Netherlands' greatest authors. Engel inherited the surnames of both his parents, Pieter Douwes and Engeltje Dekker, and Multatuli's family retained both names. Multatuli's elder brother, Jan Douwes Dekker (1816–1864), was the grandfather of Ernest Douwes Dekker, a politician of Dutch-Javanese descent.

As an adolescent, Multatuli attended school in Amsterdam, at the Latin school located at the Singel. A precursor of the present day Barlaeus Gymnasium.

Career in Dutch East Indies

Natal, Sumatra

thumb|Register of Dutch East Indian officials: Registration of Eduard Douwes Dekker (Multatuli), 1839–1887

thumb|The hospital of [[Natal, North Sumatra, formerly the office and residence of Multatuli as controleur]]

In 1838, he left on one of his father's ships for Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies, where over the next two decades he held a series of colonial government posts.

Financial irregularities and a deficit in funds – at least some of which dated to before his time in office – led to a serious reprimand from the governor of Sumatra's west coastal region, General Andreas Victor Michiels, and to a temporary suspension. The head of this loge was W.J.C. van Hasselt. Multatuli sent his manuscript of Max Havelaar to Van Hasselt, and Van Hasselt sent this manuscript to another Freemason, Jacob van Lennep.

The very first text ever published by Multatuli was "Geloofsbelydenis" (Profession of Faith). It appeared in the Freemason periodical "De Dageraad" (The Dawn) in 1859. In 1865 it was reprinted in "Bloemlezing door Multatuli" by R.C. Meijer, a fellow Freemason in Amsterdam. Already in 1861 the book "Minnebrieven" (Love letters) was published at the same printer/bookseller. Many more books and editions of Dekker were published by R.C. Meijer.

Although Douwes Dekker's friend and fellow writer Jacob van Lennep had seen to it that identifiable place names were changed before publication, the book still caused enormous controversy.

thumb|upright|Frits Sieger with his statue of Multatuli's characters Woutertje Pieterse and Femke in 1971

Multatuli continued to write prolifically. His misleadingly titled second book, Minnebrieven (Love Letters, 1861), is actually another mordant satire, this time in the form of a fictitious correspondence. Several other writers from different generations were appreciative of Multatuli, like Karl Marx, Anatole France, Willem Elsschot, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann as well as Johanna van Gogh, and many first-wave feminists (suffragists).

In June 2002, the Dutch Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (Society of Dutch Literature) proclaimed Multatuli the most important Dutch writer of all time.

The annual Multatuli Prize, a Dutch literary prize, is named in his honor. The literary award Woutertje Pieterse Prijs is named after the character Woutertje Pieterse in Multatuli's De geschiedenis van Woutertje Pieterse.

The Multatuli Museum is located in Amsterdam at Korsjespoortsteeg 20, where Eduard Douwes Dekker was born. Another Multatuli Museum was opened on 11 February 2018 in Rangkasbitung, Lebak Regency in the province of Banten, Indonesia. Multatuli was cremated in Gotha. His ashes were later brought to the cemetery and crematorium Westerveld in Driehuis. His wife Tine is buried in the Protestant section of the San Michele cemetery.

An Indonesian Navy command ship was named in honor of Eduard Douwes Dekker.

Bibliography

Works which appeared during Multatuli's lifetime

  • 1859 – Geloofsbelydenis (Profession of Faith; in De Dageraad magazine)
  • 1859 – Brief aan de kiezers te Amsterdam omtrent de keuze van een afgevaardigde in verband met Indische specialiteiten en batige Saldo's (Letter to the Voters in Amsterdam about the Choice of a Deputy Related to Indian Specialties and Positive Balances)
  • 1860 – Indrukken van den dag (Impressions of the Day). Arnhem : D.A. Thieme
  • 1860 – Max Havelaar of de koffij-veilingen der Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappy (Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company). Amsterdam : De Ruyter.
  • 1860 – Brief aan Ds. W. Francken Azn. (Letter to Ds. W. Francken Azn)
  • 1860 – Brief aan den Gouverneur-Generaal in ruste (Letter to the Retired Governor-General)
  • 1860 – Aan de stemgerechtigden in het kiesdistrikt Tiel (To the Voters in the Electoral District of Tiel)
  • 1860 – Max Havelaar aan Multatuli (Max Havelaar to Multatuli)
  • 1861 – Het gebed van den onwetende (The Prayer of the Ignorant)
  • 1861 – Wys my de plaats waar ik gezaaid heb (Show Me the Place Where I Have Sown). Rotterdam : H. Nijgh
  • 1861 – Minnebrieven (Love Letters). Amsterdam : Günst
  • 1862 – Over vrijen arbeid in Nederlandsch Indië en de tegenwoordige koloniale agitatie (About Free Labour in The Dutch Indies and the Present Colonial agitation) (brochure). Amsterdam : R.C. Meijer
  • 1862 – Brief aan Quintillianus (Letter to Quintillianus)
  • 1862 – Ideën I (Ideas 1; includes the beginning of the novel Woutertje Pieterse). Amsterdam : R.C. Meijer
  • 1862 – Japansche gesprekken (Japanese Conversations)
  • 1863 – De school des levens (The School of Life)
  • 1864 – De bruid daarboven : tooneelspel in vijf bedrijven. (The Bride Up There: Drama in Five Acts). Amsterdam : Meijer
  • 1864–65 – Ideën II (Ideas II)
  • 1865 – Bloemlezing door Multatuli (Anthology by Multatuli). Amsterdam : R.C. Meyer
  • 1865 – De zegen Gods door Waterloo, gemoedelijke opmerkingen (The Blessing of God by Waterloo, Easy-Going Comments). Amsterdam : Meijer
  • 1865 – Franse rymen (French Rhymes)
  • 1865 – Herdrukken (Reprints)
  • 1865 – Verspreide stukken (Scattered Pieces Taken from Reprints)
  • 1867 – Een en ander naar aanleiding van Bosscha's Pruisen en Nederland (All This in Response to Bosscha's Prussia and the Netherlands). Amsterdam : Van Helden
  • 1869–70 – Causerieën (Seminars)
  • 1869 – De maatschappij tot Nut van den Javaan (A Society Useful for the Javanese). Amsterdam : Günst
  • 1870–71 – Ideën III (Ideas III)
  • 1870–73 – Millioenen-studiën (Millions of Studies)
  • 1870 – Divagatiën over zeker soort van Liberalismus (Deliberations about a Certain Kind of Liberalism)
  • 1870 – Nog eens: Vrye arbeid in Nederlandsch Indië (Again: Free Labour in the Dutch East Indies). Delft : Waltman
  • 1871 – Duizend en eenige hoofdstukken over specialiteiten (A Thousand and One Chapters on Specialties). Delft : Waltman
  • 1872 – Brief van Multatuli aan den Koning over de Openingsrede (Letter to the King about the Opening Speech). Amsterdam : Funke
  • 1872 – Ideën IV (contains the play Vorstenschool) (School for Princes)
  • 1873 – Ideën V (Ideas V)
  • 1873 – Ideën VI (Ideas VI)
  • 1874–1877 – Ideën VII (Ideas VII)
  • 1875 – Vorstenschool (School for Princes, 4th ed.)
  • The plot of the play "Vorstenschool" (1870) or "School for Princes" Multatuli is almost entirely derived from the novel "Le grain de Sable" (the grain of Sand) from Michel Masson.
  • 1876 – Bloemlezing door Heloïse (Anthology by Heloise)

Posthumous publications

  • 1887 – Onafgewerkte blaadjes gevonden op Multatuli's schryftafel (Unfinished Pages found on Multatuli's writing table)
  • 1888–1889 – Multatuli, Verzamelde Werken Eerste naar tijdorde gerangschikte uitgave bezorgd door zijne weduwe (Multatuli's Collected Works; first edition, selected and organized by his widow). Amsterdam : Elsevier. 10 parts
  • 1890 – De geschiedenis van Woutertje Pieterse. Uit zijn Ideen verzameld door zijne Weduwe (The History of Woutertje Pieterse, from His Ideas As Collected by his Widow). Amsterdam : Elsevier. 2 parts
  • 1890–1896 – Brieven van Multatuli. Bijdragen tot de kennis van zijn leven. Gerangschikt en toegelicht door M. Douwes Dekker geb. Hamminck Schepel, (Letters by Multatuli; Contributions to the Knowledge of His Life Ranked and Explained by M. Douwes Dekker born Hamminck Schepel). Amsterdam : W. Versluys. 10 parts
  • 1891 – Aleid. Twee fragmenten uit een onafgewerkt blyspel (Aleid: Two Excerpts from an Unfinished Comedy) (play). Amsterdam : Versluys
  • 1919 – Bloemlezing uit Multatuli's werken (Anthology of Multatuli's Work)
  • 1937 – Bloemlezing (verzameld en ingeleid door Julius Pée) (Anthology). Brugge : Van Acker
  • 1950–1995 – Volledige Werken van Multatuli (Complete Works of Multatuli). Amsterdam : Van Oorschot. 25 parts
  • 1955 – Barbertje moet hangen, Verhalen, parabelen, aforismen (Barbertje Must Hang: Stories, Parables, Aphorisms). Den Haag : Daamen

English translations

  • 1868 Max Havelaar, or The coffee auctions of the Dutch trading company. Transl. by Alphonse Nahuÿs. Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas
  • 1927 Max Havelaar, or The coffee sales of the Netherlands Trading Company. Transl. by W. Siebenhaar. New York : Knopf
  • 1948 Indonesia : once more free labor. Transl. by Nicolaas Steelink. New York : Exposition Press
  • 1961 The stone-cutter's dream. Transl. by Gustav Rueter. Thornhill : Village Press. Parallel text in Dutch and English of the Max Havelaar
  • 1974 The oyster & the eagle: selected aphorisms and parables of Multatuli. Transl. by E. M. Beekman. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press
  • 1982 Max Havelaar, or The coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. Transl. by Roy Edwards. Amherst, MA : University of Massachusetts press
  • 2019 Max Havelaar, or, the coffee auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. Transl. by Ina Rilke and David McKay. New York : New York Review Books.

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File:Portret van de schrijver Multatuli.jpg

File:Portret Multatuli (1975), Rotterdam by Mathieu Ficheroux 02.JPG

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File:Koningin Beatrix onthult beeld Multatuli op de Torensluis in Amsterdam Koningin, Bestanddeelnr 933-9812.jpg

File:Plaatsing beeld Multatuli op Torensluis in Amsterdam, Bestanddeelnr 933-9810.jpg

File:Amsterdam - Singel - Multatuli.jpg

File:Multatuli. Mezzotinto-Gravüre.jpg

File:Portret van Multatuli, RP-P-1943-568.jpg

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See also

  • W. R. van Hoëvell
  • Multatuli Museum (Netherlands) (in Dutch, Multatuli Huis) and Multatuli Museum (Indonesia)
  • Multatuli Prize

References

Sources

  • Texts of Multatuli in DBNL
  • Multatuli Museum
  • Inventory Douwes Dekker family archive Leiden University Libraries
  • Douwes Dekker Papers. Correspondence Douwes Dekker family Digital Collections Leiden University Libraries
  • works of & about Multatuli in DBNL.org
  • hear the first pages of the Max Havelaar in Dutch and read a rough English translation