Hella S. Haasse

Biography

Hella S. Haasse (b. 1918) was born in Batavia, modern-day Jakarta. She moved to the Netherlands after secondary school. In 1945 she debuted with a collection of poems, entitled Stroomversnelling (Momentum). She made her name three years later with the novella given out to mark the Dutch Book Week, Oeroeg. As with much of her work, this tale of the friendship between a Dutch and an Indonesian boy has gained the status of a classic in the Netherlands. Titles such as Het woud der verwachting (In a Dark Wood Wandering, 1949), Een nieuwer testament (Threshold of Fire, 1966) and Mevrouw Bentinck of Onverenigbaarheid van karakter (Mrs Bentinck or Irreconcilable in Character, 1978) have been greatly enjoyed by several generations. In 1992 she published another novel about her home country, the Dutch East Indies: the highly acclaimed Heren van de thee (The Tea Merchants). Her work is characterised by an adequate and well thought out vocabulary and a flexible sentence structure. Her non-historical novels and stories are often about ordinary people who are intensely confronted by their choices and circumstances: De ingewijden (The Insiders, 1957), Huurders en onderhuurders (Tenants and Sub-tenants, 1971), Berichten van het blauwe huis (Messages from the Blue House, 1986), Fenrir (2000) and Sleuteloog (Eye of the Key, 2002). Haasse also published various collections of essays, including Uitgesproken, opgeschreven (Recited, Recorded, 1996) and Zwanen schieten (Shooting Swans, 1998). In 2006 her short stories were brought together in Het tuinhuis (The Garden House). Haasse has received several prestigious literary awards, among which the P.C. Hooft Prize (1983) and the Dutch Literature Prize (Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren, 2004), and her work has been translated into many languages.

Titles

Cover Oeroeg

Oeroeg

(Oeroeg, 1948)

For many Dutch people, Oeroeg was an eyeopening introduction to race relations in the colonial Dutch East Indies. In the brief scope of a novella, Haasse illuminates the fundamental problems of the colonial system. Continued...

In a Dark Wood Wandering

(Het woud der verwachting, 1949)

In this biography of the 15th-century poet-statesman Charles d’Orléans Haasse blends historical facts with psychological and social interpretation. Behind the family quarrels between the houses of Burgundy and Orleans are people and emotions and she attempts to expose the human motives for murder and intrigue. Continued...

The Scarlet City

(De scharlaken stad, 1952)

Much of Haasse’s work consists of historical novels, a genre eminently suited to her erudition and her subtle, penetrating mind. By opting for historical fiction she is not fleeing the present, but rather voicing her deep conviction that history is what determines the present. In the labyrinthine essay The Gardens of Bomarzo, she says: ‘Nothing is ever entirely past.’ In 1952 Hella Haasse surprised her readers with The Scarlet City, an ingenious novel based around the figure of Giovanni Borgia, shortly before the plundering of the papal city by Charles V ’s troops in 1527. Continued...

Messages From The Blue House

(Berichten van het blauwe huis, 1986)

After having spent half a century abroad, sisters Felicia and Nina return to the house of their youth. It is only for the summer, the house has been sold and is one to be demolished. For the two sisters, however, this short period is one of fierce confrontation with one another and their past. The sisters have lead entirely different lives. As the wife of a diplomat Felicia has moved in society circles in many South American countries and has now retired to a chalet in Switzerland. Nina has led, certainly to her sister’s mind, a mysterious and adventurous life in Argentina. She has travelled about with a famous guitarist who was closely involved with the guerrilla movement. Continued...

Cover Heren van de thee

The Tea Merchants

(Heren van de thee, 1992)

Hella Haasse is the ‘grande dame’ of Dutch letters. She made her name with lengthy, excellently documented, fast paced historical novels on subjects ranging from the life of Charles d’Orleans in early fifteenthcentury France to the Papal court in Rome (the ‘scarlet city’) a century later. The most successful of all her novels with historical settings is Heren van de thee (The Tea Merchants), which continues to sell. Continued...

Cover Fenrir: Een lang weekend in de Ardennen

Fenrir: A Long Weekend in the Ardennes

(Fenrir: Een lang weekend in de Ardennen, 2000)

Hella Haasse’s popularity with a wide range of readers may have contributed to her not being included in the list of great post-war Dutch authors; nevertheless she does deserve a place among the likes of Claus, Hermans and Mulisch. Regardless of the genre in which she writes, she has always remained herself, always driven by a certain inquisitiveness and astonishment about the world around us. That world has often been a world of the past, such as that of Charles D’Orléans in In a Dark Wood Wandering, or colonial pre-war Batavia (now Indonesia), which is described so beautifully in Heren van de thee (The Tea Merchants). The main characters are often writers or poets, who are in their own way outsiders. Continued...

Cover Sleuteloog

Eye of the Key

(Sleuteloog, 2002)

Despite her advanced years, Hella S. Haasse always succeeds magnificently in penning novels that add something new and radical to her majestic oeuvre. Her latest novel has even been hailed by Dutch literary critics as one of the best she has ever written.
In Sleuteloog, Haasse returns to the Dutch East Indies, to her native soil and the place she considers the breeding ground of her imagination. This was also the setting for her debut novel from 1948, Oeroeg (Forever a Stranger), which brought her overnight recognition as a Dutch writer. Continued...

Cover Het tuinhuis

The Garden House

(Het tuinhuis, 2006)

Hella S. Haasse is renowned for her historical novels. They are intelligent, exciting, and well-documented; they take the reader by surprise and lead one back, compellingly, to another time and place. When she uses contemporary settings for her novels and stories, she generally writes about ordinary people, characters engaged in a profound struggle with personal choices and circumstances. Het tuinhuis (The Garden House), a collection of the short stories that Haasse has written during her rich and long authorship, proves that she can create the same effects with fewer words. Most remarkable is the way in which Haasse subtly and imperceptibly lures the reader into a new atmospheric setting each time, imparting the characters’ dilemmas, fears, and desires in an instant. Continued...

Hella S. Haasse

photo Roy Tee

Authors & Titles


Translated Titles

  • Den hollandske kvinde (Een keuze uit het werk). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1961
  • Des nouvelles de la maison bleue (Berichten van het blauwe huis). Arles: Actes Sud, 2000
  • Des nouvelles de la maison bleue (Berichten van het blauwe huis). Québec: Leméac, 2000
  • Das blaue Haus (Berichten van het blauwe huis). München: Goldmann, 1998
  • Des nouvelles de la maison bleue (Berichten van het blauwe huis). Arles: Actes Sud, 2004
  • Die Eingeweihten (De ingewijden). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1961
  • Les initiés (De ingewijden). Arles: Actes Sud, 2003
  • Les initiés (De ingewijden). Québec: Leméac, 2003
  • Le Maître de la descente (De Meester van de neerdaling). Arles: Actes Sud, 1994
  • Das Gemälde (De Meester van de neerdaling). München: Bertelsmann, 1999
  • Entheiligte Stadt (De scharlaken stad). Zürich: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1954
  • The scarlet city (De scharlaken stad). London: McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, 1954
  • La ciudad escarlata (De scharlaken stad). Barcelona: Edhasa, 1993
  • Die scharlachrote Stadt (De scharlaken stad). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1994
  • Die scharlachrote Stadt (De scharlaken stad). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Wunderlich, 1994
  • The scarlet city (De scharlaken stad). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1990
  • La ciudad escarlata (De scharlaken stad). Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1995
  • Die scharlachrote Stadt (De scharlaken stad). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 1996
  • Die scharlachrote Stadt (De scharlaken stad). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1955
  • La ville écarlate (De scharlaken stad). Paris: Seuil, 1997
  • The scarlet city (De scharlaken stad). London etc.: Allison & Busby, 1997
  • The scarlet city (De scharlaken stad). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1997
  • La ciudad escarlata (De scharlaken stad). Barcelona: Edhasa, 2003
  • (De scharlaken stad) (De scharlaken stad). Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi,
  • Le temps est un songe, ou Henri-René Lenormand et les Pays-Bas (De tijd een droom, of Henri-René Lenormand en Nederland (1991)). Bergen: Vereniging Volkshogeschool Méridon, 1991
  • Misterul bomarzo (De tuinen van Bomarzo). Bucuresti: Meridiane, 1973
  • Les jardins de Bomarzo (De tuinen van Bomarzo). Paris: Seuil, 2000
  • Y ffynhonnell gudd (De verborgen bron). Llandysul: J.D. Lewis A'I Feibion Cyf., 1970
  • La source cachée (De verborgen bron). Arles: Actes Sud, 2000
  • La fonte nascosta (De verborgen bron). Milano: Iperborea, 1997
  • La source cachée (De verborgen bron). Arles: Actes Sud, 1998
  • [Skrytyi istocnik] (De verborgen bron). Moskva: Mai, 1998
  • Skrytý pramen (De verborgen bron). : , 2007
  • La source cachée (De verborgen bron). Paris: Grand caractère, 1999
  • Les routes de l’imaginaire (De wegen der verbeelding). Arles: Actes Sud, 1998
  • Les routes de l’imaginaire (De wegen der verbeelding). Québec: Leméac, 1998
  • Les routes de l’imaginaire (De wegen der verbeelding). Arles: Actes Sud, 1996
  • Le vie dell’immaginazione (De wegen der verbeelding). Milano: Iperborea, 2000
  • Der kleine Garten (De wegen der verbeelding). München: Bertelsmann, 1999
  • Drogi wyobrazni (De wegen der verbeelding). Warszawa: Noir sur Blanc, 2004
  • Un fil dans le noir: pièce en trois actes (Een draad in het donker). Den Haag: Kroon, 1993
  • Ariadne: drama tiga babak (Een draad in het donker). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1966
  • A touch of the Dutch (Een draad in het donker). s.l.: Aurora Metro Press, 1997
  • Nebezpecná známost’alebo daalenberské listy (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Bratislava: Aspekt, 2001
  • Une liaison dangereuse (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Paris: Seuil, 1995
  • Une liaison dangereuse (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Paris: Seuil, 1996
  • Uma ligação perigosa: cartas de Valmont (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Lisboa: Teorema, 1997
  • Niebezpieczny zwiazek, albo listy z Daal en Berg (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Warszawa: Noir sur Blanc, 2002
  • (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven) (Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven). Budapest: Gondolat,
  • Un goût d'amandes amères (Een nieuwer testament). Arles: Actes Sud, 1988
  • Threshold of fire: a novel of fifth century Rome (Een nieuwer testament). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1993
  • Un gusto a almendras amargas (Een nieuwer testament). Barcelona: Edhasa, 1991
  • Threshold of fire (Een nieuwer testament). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1996
  • Threshold of fire: a novel of fifth century Rome (Een nieuwer testament). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1993
  • Profumo di mandorle amare (Een nieuwer testament). Milano: Rizzoli, 1993
  • Un gusto a almendras amargas (Een nieuwer testament). Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1995
  • Un goût d'amandes amères (Een nieuwer testament). Arles: Actes Sud, 1996
  • Threshold of fire (Een nieuwer testament). London etc.: Allison & Busby, 1997
  • [(Een nieuwer testament)] (Een nieuwer testament). Athéna: Kastaniotis,
  • Un long week-end dans les Ardennes (Fenrir). Arles: Actes Sud, 2001
  • Un long week-end dans les Ardennes (Fenrir). Québec: Leméac, 2001
  • La pianista e i lupi (Fenrir). Milano: Iperborea, 2003
  • Un long week-end dans les Ardennes (Fenrir). Arles: Actes Sud, 2006
  • [Nhung ông vua chè] (Heren van de thee). Hanoi: Van Hoc / RICC, 2002
  • Pengusaha teh (Heren van de thee). s.l.: n.n.NL, 1993
  • I signori del tè (Heren van de thee). Milano: Rizzoli, 1997
  • Die Teebarone (Heren van de thee). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2001
  • Páni cajových plantází: rodinná sága (Heren van de thee). Praha: Brána, 2003
  • I signori del tè (Heren van de thee). Milano: Rizzoli, 1994
  • Die Teebarone (Heren van de thee). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Wunderlich, 1995
  • Les seigneurs du thé (Heren van de thee). Paris: Seuil, 1996
  • Die Teebarone (Heren van de thee). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1997
  • Les seigneurs du thé (Heren van de thee). Paris: Seuil, 1997
  • Los señores del té (Heren van de thee). Barcelona: Península, 1999
  • Los señores del té (Heren van de thee). Barcelona: Muchnik, 2001
  • [Oi baronoi tou tsagioú] (Heren van de thee). Athéna: Kastaniotis, 2007
  • Les seigneurs du thé (Heren van de thee). Paris: Seuil, 2006
  • The tea lords (Heren van de thee). London: Portobello Books,
  • Panowie herbaty (Heren van de thee). Warszawa: Noir sur Blanc, 2010
  • Vagando per una selva oscura (Het woud der verwachting). Milano: Rizzoli, 1991
  • In a dark wood wandering (Het woud der verwachting). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1989
  • In a dark wood wandering (Het woud der verwachting). London; Sydney; Auckland; Johannesburg: Hutchinson, 1989
  • En la forêt de longue attente (Het woud der verwachting). Paris: Seuil, 1991
  • Wald der Erwartung (Het woud der verwachting). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 1999
  • Wald der Erwartung (Het woud der verwachting). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Club, 1993
  • Wald der Erwartung (Het woud der verwachting). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Wunderlich, 1993
  • In a dark wood wandering (Het woud der verwachting). London: Arrow Books, 1991
  • El bosque de la larga espera (Het woud der verwachting). Barcelona: Edhasa, 2001
  • I den långa väntans skog (Het woud der verwachting). Stockholm: Tiden, 1993
  • En la forêt de longue attente (Het woud der verwachting). Paris: Seuil, 1993
  • El bosque de la larga espera (Het woud der verwachting). Barcelona: Plaza & Janés, 1995
  • Wald der Erwartung (Het woud der verwachting). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1995
  • Vagando per una selva oscura (Het woud der verwachting). Milano: Rizzoli, 1992
  • El bosque de la larga espera (Het woud der verwachting). Barcelona: Salvat, 1995
  • Wald der Erwartung (Het woud der verwachting). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1957
  • El bosque de la larga espera (Het woud der verwachting). Barcelona: Edhasa, 1992
  • In a dark wood wandering (Het woud der verwachting). Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers, 1997
  • En la forêt de longue attente (Het woud der verwachting). Paris: Seuil, 2007
  • (Het woud der verwachting) (Het woud der verwachting). Škofja Loka: Vran,
  • Vagando per una selva oscura (Het woud der verwachting). : ,
  • Das Mietshaus (Huurders en onderhuurders). München: Bertelsmann, 2001
  • Das Mietshaus (Huurders en onderhuurders). München: Goldmann, 2001
  • Locataires et sous-locataires: une fiction (Huurders en onderhuurders). Arles: Actes Sud, 1999
  • Locataires et sous-locataires: une fiction (Huurders en onderhuurders). Arles: Actes Sud, 2003
  • Locataires et sous-locataires: une fiction (Huurders en onderhuurders). Québec: Leméac, 2003
  • Ich widerspreche stets (Mevrouw Bentinck, of Onverenigbaarheid van karakter). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Wunderlich, 1997
  • La signora Bentick, o dell’ incomptabilità di carattere (Mevrouw Bentinck, of Onverenigbaarheid van karakter). Milano: Rizzoli, 1997
  • La récalcitrante (Mevrouw Bentinck, of Onverenigbaarheid van karakter). Paris: Seuil, 2003
  • Ich widerspreche stets (Mevrouw Bentinck, of Onverenigbaarheid van karakter). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1999
  • Il lago degli spiriti (Oeroeg). Torino: Lindau, 1992
  • Le lac noir (Oeroeg). Arles: Actes Sud, 1991
  • Fy Ffrind oedd Wrwg (Oeroeg). Llandysul: J.D. Lewis A'I Feibion Cyf., 1968
  • Urug (Oeroeg). Budapest: Magvetö, 1987
  • Der schwarze See (Oeroeg). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1994
  • Crno Jezero (Oeroeg). Novi Sad: Prometej, 1994
  • Le lac noir (Oeroeg). Arles: Actes Sud, 1994
  • Forever a stranger and Other Stories (Oeroeg). Oxford; New York; etc.: Oxford University Press, 1996
  • Urug (Oeroeg). Szwajcaria: Noir sur Blanc, 1997
  • Strain pentru totdeauna (Oeroeg). Bucuresti: Univers, 2000
  • Oeroeg (Oeroeg). Jakarta: Gramedia, 2009
  • (Oeroeg) (Oeroeg). London: Portobello Books,
  • Genius loci (Genius loci). s.l.: n.n.NL, 2000
  • L'anello della chiave (Sleuteloog). Milano: Iperborea, 2006
  • L'anneau de la clé (Sleuteloog). Arles: Actes Sud, 2004
  • Tajna izgubljenog kljuca (Sleuteloog). Novi Sad: Prometej, 2005
  • Mata kunci (Sleuteloog). Jakarta: Metafor, 2005
  • El ojo de la cerradura (Sleuteloog). Barcelona: Edhasa, 2006
  • (Sleuteloog) (Sleuteloog). Warszawa: Noir sur Blanc,
  • L'anneau de la clé (Sleuteloog). Arles: Actes Sud, 2008
  • L'anneau de la clé (Sleuteloog). Québec: Leméac, 2008
  • Transit (Transit). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1999
  • Vmesna postaja (Transit). Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 2002
  • En transit (Transit). Arles: Actes Sud, 1995
  • Di passaggio (Transit). Milano: Iperborea, 1996
  • Transit (Transit). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1996
  • Atutazóban (Transit). Budapest: Pont Kiadó, 2000
  • Le Génie du lieu; La gloriette: récits (Twee verhalen: Genius loci; Het tuinhuis). Arles: Actes Sud, 1998
  • (Genius loci; La gloriette) (Twee verhalen: Genius loci; Het tuinhuis). Milano: Iperborea,
  • Viser les cygnes (Zwanen schieten). Arles: Actes Sud, 2002
  • Viser les cygnes (Zwanen schieten). Québec: Leméac, 2002
  • Tiro ai cigni (Zwanen schieten). Milano: Iperborea, 2004
  • Madame Bentinck, l'indiscrète (De groten der aarde of Bentinck tegen Bentinck). Paris: Seuil, 2006
  • Aloe ferox et autres nouvelles (Het tuinhuis). Arles: Actes Sud, 2008
  • (Sterrenjacht) (Sterrenjacht). Arles: Actes Sud,