Max Havelaar adalah cerita fiksi yang terasa nyata. Kisah ini sendiri didasarkan atas apa yang dialami oleh Douwes Dekker saat menjadi pegawai pemerintah Hindia Belanda 18 tahun lamanya. Membaca kisah ini akan segera sadar apa sebenarnya politik divide et impera yang diterapkan Belanda.
Pemerintah Kerajaan Belanda sadar atas apa yang mereka lakukan selama ini di Hindia Belanda. Rakyat pribumi yang mereka paksa bertanam kopi dan teh tak ubahnya mesin bagi mereka. Kondisi diperburuk dengan banyaknya masyarakat Hindia Belanda yang belajar sifat makelar lewat instingnya mempertahankan hidup. Ada yang hidup nyaman dengan menjadi makelar budak untuk Belanda, tapi ada yang hidup mengabdikan diri bekerja selamanya untuk mereka agar keluarganya tidak dihancurkan. Semua yang mengubah tatanan itu dianggap merusak keseimbangan yang terjadi di Hindia Belanda dan Douwes Dekker adalah salah sedikit di antaranya.
Douwes Dekker lewat sudut pandang Stern dan Drogstoppel menunjukkan kisahnya di masa yang berbeda. Stern menceritakan dirinya saat menjadi asisten residen sementara Drogstoppel yang terus-terusan memanggilnya Sjaalman bercerita saat dia hidup miskin di Belanda. Namun lewat sudut pandang Multatuli, Douwes Dekker terus memastikan ceritanya akan terus dibaca dan menjadi usahanya menghentikan ketidakadilan walaupun dia sendiri terbelenggu dalam sikap white man's washing complex yang selalu menyerang warga kolonial yang hendak membebaskan masyarakat jajahan dari pemerintahan negaranya sendiri.
Cerita ini menjemukan bagi rakyat Indonesia, karena mengingat masa lalu tidak pernah mudah. Cerita ini berakhir dengan tragis karena pahlawan kita harus gugur sebelum berperang. Namun cerita ini telah dibaca dan akan terus dibaca.
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Max Havelaar adalah cerita fiksi yang terasa nyata. Kisah ini sendiri didasarkan atas apa yang dialami oleh Douwes Dekker saat menjadi pegawai pemerintah Hindia Belanda 18 tahun lamanya. Membaca kisah ini akan segera sadar apa sebenarnya politik divide et impera yang diterapkan Belanda.
Pemerintah Kerajaan Belanda sadar atas apa yang mereka lakukan selama ini di Hindia Belanda. Rakyat pribumi yang mereka paksa bertanam kopi dan teh tak ubahnya mesin bagi mereka. Kondisi diperburuk dengan banyaknya masyarakat Hindia Belanda yang belajar sifat makelar lewat instingnya mempertahankan hidup. Ada yang hidup nyaman dengan menjadi makelar budak untuk Belanda, tapi ada yang hidup mengabdikan diri bekerja selamanya untuk mereka agar keluarganya tidak dihancurkan. Semua yang mengubah tatanan itu dianggap merusak keseimbangan yang terjadi di Hindia Belanda dan Douwes Dekker adalah salah sedikit di antaranya.
Douwes Dekker lewat sudut pandang Stern dan Drogstoppel menunjukkan kisahnya di masa yang berbeda. Stern menceritakan dirinya saat menjadi asisten residen sementara Drogstoppel yang terus-terusan memanggilnya Sjaalman bercerita saat dia hidup miskin di Belanda. Namun lewat sudut pandang Multatuli, Douwes Dekker terus memastikan ceritanya akan terus dibaca dan menjadi usahanya menghentikan ketidakadilan walaupun dia sendiri terbelenggu dalam sikap white man's washing complex yang selalu menyerang warga kolonial yang hendak membebaskan masyarakat jajahan dari pemerintahan negaranya sendiri.
Cerita ini menjemukan bagi rakyat Indonesia, karena mengingat masa lalu tidak pernah mudah. Cerita ini berakhir dengan tragis karena pahlawan kita harus gugur sebelum berperang. Namun cerita ini telah dibaca dan akan terus dibaca.
( )

Karakter Tuan Droogstoppel sangat menyebalkan.

Dari novel ini aku tidak melihat penjelasan kekejaman Belanda terhadap rakyat Hindia Belanda, yang diceritakan hanyalah tentang pembesar2 pribumi yang bertindak sewenang-wenang terhadap rakyatnya.
Dan mengetahui semua yang mereka lakukan pejabat Belanda memutuskan untuk mendiamkan hal ini demi kepentingan mereka sendiri.
Perjuangan karakter Max Havelaar membela rakyat Lebak dari penindasan pemimpinnya patut diacungi jempol. Karena dia berani menentang Residen Banten yang merupakan atasannya dan menjalani hidup dengan ancaman diracun.



Sebenarnya gak mengerti bagaimana novel ini dikatakan mengubah begitu banyak hal. ( )

Max Havelaar, subtitled The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company, is the famous book that shamed the Dutch government into reforming the system of forced cultivation imposed on its colonial possessions in the Dutch East Indies. Indirectly, it also led to Indonesian independence in 1945, because the reforms also included educational opportunities—leading to the development of an Indonesian elite, a national language and anti-colonial ambitions. The only other book that I know that had a similar impact is Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) by José Rizal, translated by Harold Augenbraum, a novel which forged the independence movement in the Philippines. Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who wrote the Introduction to my edition, called Max Havelaar 'earthshaking' and (according to Wikipedia) 'the book that killed colonialism.'

Multituli is Latin for 'I have suffered greatly' and it is the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1920-1887). While this book purports to be a work of fiction and much of it is, it is also an autobiographical account derived from Dekker's experiences in the Dutch East Indies, from which he returned ignominiously after 17 years in the colonial service. His attempts at reform of the atrocious treatment of the peasants had failed and on his return to the Netherlands he wrote this book to draw attention to the abuses he had tried to ameliorate. (Also, it must be said, the book is a justification for his actions and an attempt to salvage a reputation he did not deserve). Dekker's 'Comments and Clarifications' to the 1875 edition convey his frustration and anger over the lack of reform, but he was not to know the influence his book would ultimately have.

First published in 1860, first translated into English in 1868, not translated into Indonesian until 1972, and now in a new edition translated by Ina Rilke and David McKay for the NYRB, Max Havelaar is a much more lively book than I had expected it to be. It's structured as a book-within-a-book, framed by the fatuous observations of an Amsterdam coffee broker called Drystubble, (Batavus Droogstoppel), a name intended to arouse mockery. Self-important, self-aggrandising and fulsomely patronising, this hypocrite prides himself on outsmarting his rivals and graciously growing his business through the hard work of people poorer than himself. Into his hands comes a manuscript written by an author too poor to publish it. He begins to read it almost by accident, and then decides to steal it, to publish the bits useful to himself. He doesn't do the work of editing himself: he hires Ernest Stern, the son of his best customer, in order to forestall his custom going to a cheaper rival.

The story proper begins in Java with the arrival of the new Assistant Registrar in Lebak. Max Havelaar emerges from a gruelling carriage ride over terrible roads with his wife Tina and small son Max, to be welcomed by various members of the colonial bureaucracy and their spineless Javanese collaborators from the aristocracy. In a satirical tone the narrator explains beforehand how the colony is administered, making it clear that the entire system is designed to maximise profits from exports to the Netherlands, and that it causes extensive famines throughout the fertile lands of Java. And, perhaps worst of all, by buying off the aristocrats, the system also ensures corruption to enable a luxurious lifestyle for the Adipati and his Dutch overlords while stifling any complaints or attempts to ameliorate the suffering of the peasants. (This is why Pramoedya Ananta Toer is so scathing about the Javanese aristocracy in his Buru Quartet).

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/09/28/max-havelaar-by-multatuli-translated-by-ina-... ( )

Fascinating book - the fictionalised story of a Dutch colonial functionary in Indonesia in the 1850s. The functionary tries to raise abuse of the ordinary people by their traditional leaders/rulers who operate under the knowing blind eye of the colonial administrators. The book is written in quite a quirky style, which hasn't aged well, but the story, and the message, still shines through.
This is effectively an early example of a whistle blower. And, according to Wikipedia, the novel raised quite a storm, and changes were made in colonial administration as a result. ( )

Finalmente l'ho finito dopo averlo preso e riposto per due mesi.
Una grande delusione per il mio amore per i Paesi Bassi. Un libro mortalmente noioso e sconclusionato.
Intanto è un libro di Iperborea. Meritevolissima casa editrice, non c'è che dire. Ma le 360 pagine del romanzo rendono scomoda la lettura nel formato iperboreo. Scomodità che sarebbe sostenibile se il libro filasse via come una lippa (vedi le 496 pagine di Long John Silver).
Ma il testo è ostico per almeno la metà delle pagine e ci si stufa di tenere aperte a fatica le strette pagine.
La struttura del romanzo - in cui consiste la sua originalità - stenta a far lievitare la storia.
Dopo la metà migliora, ma ormai non si smette di arrancare: il fastidio iniziale ha frustrato il lettore.
Eppure, letta l'ultima pagina, viene voglia di ricominciare.
Dove ho sbagliato con questo libro mi sono detta?
La storia è grandiosa: un donchisciotte olandese di carta che parla a nome del donchisciotte olandese in carne e ossa che ha scritto il libro; storie d'amore tenere e senza speranza; satira durissima contro l'ipocrisia calvinista dell'affarista olandese; una perfetta vivisezione dell'indifferente crudele macchina burocratico-coloniale; commenti purissimi e entusiasmanti sulla letteratura e la sua funzione sociale.
Alla faccia del tulipano gentile, tollerante, operoso e cordiale dello stereotipo.
Insomma un grande libro, un libro la leggere - per me da rileggere - assolutamente.
Per ora gli lascio le stelline del disinganno apparente. Ma sono sicura che quando lo rileggerò il loro numero, per lo meno, raddoppierà. ( )

Multatuli (a pseudonym) served as an official in the Dutch East Indies from 1838 to 1856. He was dismayed by the corruption, violence, and oppression he saw. He was ultimately dismissed from the civil service, and returned to Holland, where, under a cloud of suspicion, he wrote this fictionalized account based on his experiences in Java. The book created a sensation upon its publication in Holland, and is an important work in the canon of Dutch literature.

The story is not narrated directly. Instead, the novel opens when a smug and hypocritical coffee trader in Holland is given a manuscript by an apparently destitute childhood friend. Unable to understand the manuscript, he calls for assistance in transcribing it. The manuscript details the experiences of the civil servant Max Havelaar, who as an idealistic colonial official attempted to make changes to the disgraceful practices he encountered, but who is ultimately dismissed in disgrace. Episodes in colonial Java alternate with tales of Droogstoppel, the Dutch coffee trader.

This book is obviously important as a historical document relating to Holland's colonial history, and as an example of the power of literature to initiate or further societal changes, as for example Uncle Tom's Cabin. And while Max and his family are sympathetic, and Droogstoppel and his ilk provide some humor, I was never fully engaged with the book, and found that it proceeded very slowly.

Recommended for those interested in the historical events, and those interested in reading Dutch classics. ( )

READ IN DUTCH

Ik heb me aan het eind van de zomervakantie dan toch door het 'beste' boek uit de Nederlandse literatuurgeschiedenis heen gewerkt. Max Havelaar of de Koffiveilingen der Nederlansche Handelmaatschappy wilde ik graag gelezen hebben voor mijn mondeling vorige week. We hadden dit boek al uitvoerig besproken voor ik het ging lezen, en dit maakte het wel makkelijker om sommige dingen te begrijpen.

Het overbekende verhaal gaat over een handelaar in koffie, die van een vroegere vriend, die hij 'Sjaalman' noemt een pakket papieren krijgt over ondere andere koffie. Uit dat pakket komt dan uiteindelijk ook het verhaal van Max Havelaar naar voren, die adsistent-resident was in Lebak. Hij probeerde iets aan de mistanden aldaar te doen.

Ik denk dat, om dit boek hier te kunnen beoordelen, ik een splitsing zal moeten maken. Je hebt namelijk het verhaal zelf, en het doel ervan buiten het boek. Voor mijn mondeling heb ik een twintigtal pagina's uitreksel over dit boek gelezen, om mijn kennis weer helemaal op te frissen, en daar zat ook een groot deel interpretatie in. Dit boek is bedoeld geweest, enerzijds om die aanklacht tegen misbruik in Indië aan het publiek kenbaar te maken (vandaar ook die ondertitel; iedereen was bekend met de Nederlandsche Handelmaatschappy), en anderzijds om er geld mee te verdienen. Als ik kijk naar het deel ervan dat bedoeld is om de misstanden daar aan te kaarten, dan vind ik dat dapper en goed, zeker in die tijd en los van het feit dat ik uit zijn biografie heb opgemaakt dat ik hem geen sympathieke man vind. Maar kijk ik daarna puur naar het verhaal, het boek, dan kan ik niet zo enthousiast worden. Eerlijk gezegd vind ik het dan vooral erg saai. Eigenlijk is het hele boek een aanklacht, overal wordt melding gemaakt van alles wat er mis is in Indië. Verder vond ik, en eigenlijk is het wel nodig, maar het zorgt niet voor leesplezier, dat er teveel werd uitgelegd en te diep werd ingegaan op de uitwerking van het precieze bestuurlijke systeem aldaar. Daardoor wordt het verhaal steeds stil gelegd en krijg je nooit echt de kans om in het verhaal te komen, terwijl dat nou altijd zo leuk is. Daarbij las ik ook nog de oorspronkelijk tekst, in het nederlands van de 19de eeuw, dit maakte het er ook niet makkelijker op. Kortom, ik vind het boek goed in die zin dat het zeer gewaagd was de koning op die manier aan te vallen, maar als leesboek vond ik het niet zo goed (misschien speelt ook nog mee dat de hele Indië kwestie niet meer meespeelt. Niet dat er geen mensen meer worden uitgezogen, maar daar is Beatrix dan zeg maar niet meer verantwoordelijk voor). Toch denk ik dat het boek voor veel mensen een mustread is, al is het dan voor school...

PS. Ben ik nog vergeten te melden dat bij mij op school dit enkel een aanrader is, en geen verplicht leesvoer. ( )

Scathing indictment of colonialism. This is tempting me to reread.

Read online: https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Max_Havelaar_(Wikisource)/01 ( )

At times frustrating, at times compelling this novel was written to arouse awareness of the brutality and corruption in the Dutch Indies. Ostensibly telling the tale of Max Havelaar, an Assistant-Resident on Java, this novel brings to the fore the treatment of those living in the Indies as well as showing the results of the work back home in the Netherlands. The book uses a multitude of narrators and it is not always clear who is speaking but altogether an interesting novel. I was already interested in the East India Company (the British Tea Trading company that took over much of the Indian sub-continent and was the instrument of British rule in India) and this has made me want to read more. 3.5 stars. ( )

The story of Max Havelaar is a social commentary on colonialism as well as a political statement of the abuse of government and the ineffectiveness of Christianity without charity. The story is set in 1853 or there abouts in Indonesia (Java) at that time and is the story of why change is almost impossible in systems that are as large as governments and even a good person is basically unable to make any good change.

This is a 4 star read for me. I hated the poor condition of my kindle edition and having to constantly correct the typos and other errors in my head to make any sense out of some of the sentences but I fell for this social commentary of the abuse of people by colonialism but also by their own people. The book was a little difficult. I believe it is what is called a frame story. A story within a story. It seems like we had the story that was being told by Mr Drystubble (what a social commentary of whited sepulcher), Stern's story taken from Max Havelaar's (shawlman's notes) and then the story written by Multatuli as the author of the whole social commentary. Loved the love story, made me want to cry. Cry for the water buffalo and cry for the poor boy. That alone made this a 4 star story for me. I will never look at a water buffalo in the same way again. ( )

A classic in Dutch colonial literature, but despite bringing attention to the lives of Indonesian characters and how they are abused by their local lords, they're never more than servants and they barely get any dialog. The same, by the way, applies to women.

The parts of the story that don't take place in Indonesia are meant to be amusing, but they're more like boring, tedious passages in an otherwise interesting read.

Loved the structure of this novel, loved the writing style.
Loved the j'accuse of the way the author treated the subject matter.
Highly recommended. ( )

Multatuli was the pseudonym of Edourd Douwes Dekker, born in 1820 in Amsterdam. He wrote Max Havelaar in 1860 as a protest against the agri-business exploitation he perceived being perpetrated by the Dutch against the indigenous Indonesian farmers. Much later, this type of writing would be coined muckraking journalism and was popularized by the likes of Sinclair Lewis in works like The Jungle.

Teenkrullend stukje Nederlandse koloniale historie, die maar al te gauw onder tafel wordt geschoven. En toch nog niet zo ver van huis ligt.

Toe curling piece of Dutch colonial history, which is all too conveniently brushed under the carpet. Not all that far from home, actually.

I read for pleasure. This book was not a pleasure. Admittedly, I gave up at chapter 5, which was set in Java (I guess) while the previous chapters took place in Amsterdam, and there was no transition to this different place.

I absolutely hated the narrator, Droogstoppel. What a dim, smallminded, egotistic person he is. Maybe this book is a classic in Dutch literature, bit I'm not tempted to read on. ( )

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 insiginifcance. 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. ( )

Review from Wikipedia satire on dutch colonialism

http://cf.hum.uva.nl/dsp/ljc/multatuli/havelaar/index.html ( )