| Hella Haasse | |
|---|---|
In 2007 |
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| Born | Hélène Serafia Haasse 2 February 1918 Batavia, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 29 September 2011 (aged 93) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Period | 1948–2011 |
| Subjects | Historical novels, Dutch East Indies-Netherlands relationship |
| Notable award(s) | 19 total (inc. 2 honorary degrees and P.C. Hooft Award) |
| Spouse(s) | Jan van Lelyveld (1944–2008; his death); 3 children |
Hélène "Hella" Serafia Haasse (2 February 1918 – 29 September 2011)[1] was a Dutch writer, often referred to as "the Grand Old Lady" of Dutch literature,[2] and whose novel Oeroeg (1948) was a staple for generations of Dutch schoolchildren.[3] Her internationally acclaimed Magnus opus is "Heren van de Thee", translated to "The Tea Lords".[4] In 1988 Haasse was chosen to interview the Dutch Queen for her 50th birthday after which celebrated Dutch author Adriaan van Dis called Haasse "the Queen among authors".[5]
Haasse has the first Dutch digital online museum dedicated to the life and work of an author. The museum was opened in 2008 on her 90th birthday.[6]
Haasse is the only Dutch author to have an asteroid named after her.[7]
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An important segment of her literary work consists of Dutch Indies literature. Her debut Oeroeg (1948), is set in the Dutch East Indies, where Haasse was born and lived for most of the first 20 years of her life. Even more autobiographical texts and books about her life in the East Indies, includes books such as Krassen op een rots (1970). The East Indies continued to play an important part in her work as can be seen in her last novel Sleuteloog (2002), which has the same theme as Oeroeg: is a friendship between a Dutch and an Indonesian child possible and can they really understand each other?
Her successful debut book “Oeroeg” was well received and often reprinted, but did experience some controversy due to the critical reception by the older author Tjalie Robinson. The Indo (Eurasian) Tjalie Robinson pointed out why he did not find the characters in the story credible. Moreover as Tjalie Robinson himself was still living in the Dutch East Indies at that time, hoping for and working towards fraternization between the Dutch and Indonesians his sharp criticism was directed against what he considered the defeatist nature of the book.[8][9]
The movie 'Oeroeg' based on the book premiered in 1993.[10]
Her internationally acclaimed Magnus opus "Heren van de Thee" was translated to ‘The Tea Lords’ in 2010. It is a historical novel set in the Dutch East Indies of the 19th and 20th century, based on a trove of documents and letters deposited in the Netherlands by the heirs and relations of the book’s characters.
”I can only say that realising her characters were once flesh and blood made me feel I had read the most humane sort of biography, in which the writer inhabits every emotional recess and significance. That may make The Tea Lords sound like half a novel; but read it and you might agree that it is more in the nature of an improvisation, a graceful, marvellously achieved improvisation that only a novelist of the greatest imagination and sympathy could have written.” Julian Evans.[11]
Her great commercial success and critical acclaim is reflected in the numerous prizes she has been awarded over the years. She has won prizes for both her first novel in 1948 as well as her last novel in 2003. Prestigious awards for her entire oeuvre up to that time include the Constantijn Huygens Prize in 1981 and the P. C. Hooft Award in 1984. Various other prizes include the ‘’Annie Romein Prize’’and the ‘’Dirk Martens Prize’’. She has also won the ‘’Prize of the Public of the NS’’ twice and is the only author who has written the prestigious annual "Boekenweekgeschenk" thrice, in 1948, 1959 and 1994 respectively.
Haasse has lived in France for many years (1981-1990) and much of her work has been translated into French. The '‘Académie Française’' awarded Haasse the Diplôme de médaille Argent in 1984. The next year she delivers a presentation on colonial literature at the University of Dakar. She was awarded the Officier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur in 2000.
Haasse received an honorary literary doctorate from the University of Utrecht in 1988 and from the Belgian University of Leuven in 1995. In 1987 she had already been given an honorary membership of the Belgian Royal Literary Academy (Belgische Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde (KANTL)) in Gent.
The Chilean Ministry of Education (‘El Ministerio de education de Chile') awarded her a prize for her “universal contribution to culture” in 1996.
In 1989 the city of Boston awarded her the ‘Boston Certificate of Recognition’, for her book ‘’In a Dark Wood Wandering’’: “In recognition and appreciation of your outstanding contributions to the City of Boston and its residents.”
In 1992 Haasse attends the opening of the IKAPI ‘International Book Fair’ in Jakarta. It is the last time she will visit her birthplace Java and the year her Dutch Indies literature masterpiece “Heren van de Thee” is published.