Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company [Paperback]

One of the most forceful indictments of colonialism ever written and a masterpiece of Dutch literature, in an esteemed translation by an award-winning translator

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. InMax Havelaar, Multatuli (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.Max HavelaarTranslator's Introduction

Introduction by R. P. Meijer

Max Havelaar

Notes

“A literary masterpiece of the first order.”—R. P. Meijer, from the IntroductionMultatuli(1820–1887) was the pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker. He was born in Amsterdam, the son of a Dutch sea captain. In 1838 he went to the Indies and joined the East Indian Civil Service. Despite being involved in various disputes with his superiors, his outstanding abilities were recognized and he rose steadily in rank. He married Everdine, Baroness van Wijnbergen, in 1846 and they had two children. Increasingly unable to accept the brutalities of colonial rule, he resigned from the service in 1856. Years of ls