Volume 41, Number 14 · August 11, 1994
Revenge in the Indies
By Ian Buruma
The Hidden Force
by Louis Couperus, translated by Alexander Teixera de Mattos
University of Massachusetts Press, 254 pp., $15.95 (paper)
In 1900, when The Hidden Force was first published, Holland was at the height of its power in the Dutch East Indies, today's Indonesia. In 1899, the sultans of Acheh had been defeated and the whole island of Sumatra brought under Dutch rule. The smaller islands, such as Lombok, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sunda Islands, were subjugated in the 1880s and 1890s. And Java already had been colonized for some time before that.
Review, 3703 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |