- Van de koele meren des doods
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For the 1982 movie based on the novel, see Van de koele meren des doods (film).
Van de koele meren des doods 
Cover of the Dutch 1900 editionAuthor(s) Frederik van Eeden Language Dutch Subject(s) Woman Genre(s) Naturalism,[1] psychological novel[2] Publication date 1900 Media type Print ISBN 9021495546 OCLC Number 63446706 Dewey Decimal 839.3 LC Classification PT5831 .V3 1900 
Frederik van Eeden (1860-1932)
Van de koele meren des doods (translated in English as The Deeps of Deliverance or Hedwig's Journey, literally From the cold lakes of death) is a Dutch novel by Frederik van Eeden, first published in 1900. It is one of the canonical Dutch novels, and is praised for its representation of the female protagonist; the novel established van Eeden as a "master of the psychological novel."[2] A 1982 movie was based on the novel.
Contents
Plot
The novel relates the story of Hedwig Marga de Fontayne, the scion of a wealthy family, whose sexual frustration manifests itself as a death drive.[3] After the death of her mother her father turns alcoholic, wasting the family's fortune. She begins to fantasize about sex and becomes a habitual masturbator;[4] sexually frustrated, Hedwig marries but then runs off to England with a piano player. A child is born but dies quickly, and Hedwig goes to Paris, where she becomes a prostitute to support a morphine addiction. Destitute and descending into madness, she is admitted to the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, to the psychiatric ward where a friendly nurse helps her beat her addiction. She returns to the Netherlands, and spends her last years with a family that formerly farmed on the family's lands.
Reception and criticism
The novel was initially thought to be a case description of one of van Eeden's patients. Van Eeden, who was a psychiatrist, denied this in a preface to the second edition. The book was praised for its psychological realism by Henricus Cornelius Rümke, a well-known Dutch psychiatrist, who also pointed out that the main character has a mystical side to her.[5] A Dutch literary critic recognizes medieval mystic Hadewych (of which "Hedwig" is a variant) in some of the book's passages, especially a dream sequence early in Hedwig's life (in the dream she is called "Hadewij").[3]
While literary critic Ton Anbeek, who has written extensively on the subject of the naturalistic novel, did classify Van de koele meren as naturalistic, he noted that the novel did not meet all seven of his defining characteristics for a naturalistic novel: the novel contains no instances of erlebte Rede, and the positive ending (the "salvation" of Hedwig) is "of course completely un-naturalistic."[6] Another way in which van Eeden does not follow naturalistic tradition is that he "completely and consciously ignored the influence of hereditary factors."[7] Indeed, according to one critic, the novel sets out to prove that "people are capable of changing their destiny."[8]
The novel's position on women's sexuality and the sexual education of women has been studied extensively. Dutch critic Hannemieke Stamperius, for instance, saw in one of Hedwig's dreams a critique of the repressive way in which contemporary women were given sexual education.[9] In an article published in Dutch feminist magazine Opzij, Stamperius praised Van de koele meren as one of the most beautiful novels with a female protagonist written by a man.[10]
Adaptations and translations
A movie of the same name was made by Nouchka van Brakel, starring Renée Soutendijk. The novel was translated into English and published in 1974 as The Deeps of Deliverance,[11] and again in 2009 as Hedwig's Journey.[12][13]
References
- ^ (Dutch) Anbeek, Ton (1982). De naturalistische roman in Nederland. Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers.
- ^ a b Bédé, Jean Albert; Edgerton, William Benbow (1980). Columbia dictionary of modern European literature. Columbia UP. p. 225. ISBN 9780231037174. http://books.google.com/books?id=2_JLL32RzrkC&pg=PA225.
- ^ a b (Dutch) Dijk, Annette van (2009). 'Welk een ketter is die vrouw geweest!': de plaats van Albert Verwey in de Hadewijchreceptie. Verloren. pp. 65–67. ISBN 9789087041021.
- ^ Franke, Herman (25 June 2004). "Onaneren onder de palmboom". de Volkskrant. http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2844/Archief/archief/article/detail/669452/2004/06/25/Onaneren-onder-de-palmboom.dhtml. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) Rümke, Henricus Cornelius (1972). Over Frederik van Eeden's "Van de koele meren des doods". Haarlem: Scheltema & Holkema. p. 15.
- ^ (Dutch) Anbeek, Ton (1979). "Kenmerken van de Nederlandse naturalistische roman". De Nieuwe Taalgids 72 (6): 520–34. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/anbe001kenm01_01/anbe001kenm01_01_0001.php.
- ^ Meijer, Reindert P. (1971). Literature of the Low Countries. Ardent Media. pp. 247–48. http://books.google.com/books?id=l0HYiJTcOV0C&pg=PA247.
- ^ Vermeer, Leonieke (2007). "'The Journey to the Summits of Perfection': Moral Evolution as a Utopian Vista in the Dutch Fin de Siècle". In M. G. Kemperink, Willemien H.S. Roenhorst. Visualizing Utopia. Peeters. pp. 31–56. ISBN 9789042918771. http://books.google.com/books?id=ekiTgp4onosC&pg=PA49.
- ^ (Dutch) Stamperius, Hannemieke (1980). Vrouwen en literatuur, een inleiding. Amsterdam. pp. 91–95.
- ^ (Dutch) Stamperius, Hanneke (9 September 1979). Opzij: pp. 47–49.
- ^ Oostrum, Duco van (1995). "She Was That Awful Danger': Masculine Limits of Female Self-Representation in Frederik van Eeden's Van de koele meren des doods". Male authors, female subjects: the woman within/beyond the borders of Henry Adams, Henry James and others. Rodopi. pp. 70–98. ISBN 9789051838770. http://books.google.com/books?id=acDe_bgddx8C&pg=PA70.
- ^ (Dutch) "Nieuwe Fictie". Trouw. 24 April 2010. http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/Nieuws/article/detail/1099626/2010/04/24/nieuwe-fictie.dhtml. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
- ^ "Hedwig's journey". WorldCat. http://www.worldcat.org/title/hedwigs-journey/oclc/458735215&referer=brief_results. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
External links
- (Dutch) Van de koele meren des doods, text in the DBNL
- (Dutch) Van de koele meren des doods in Librivox (Audio book and E-book)
Categories:- Dutch novels
- 1900 novels
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