num_pages: 352
description: Max Havelaar - a Dutch civil servant in Java - burns with an insatiable desire to end the ill treatment and oppression inflicted on the native peoples by the colonial administration. Max is an inspirational figure, but he is also a flawed idealist whose vow to protect the Javanese from cruelty ends in his own downfall. In Max Havelaar, Multatuli (the pseudonym for Eduard Douwes Dekker) vividly recreated his own experiences in Java and tellingly depicts the hypocrisy of those who gained from the corrupt coffee trade. Sending shockwaves through the Dutch nation when it was published in 1860, this damning exposé of the terrible conditions in the colonies led to welfare reforms in Java and continues to inspire the fairtrade movement today.Roy Edwards's vibrant translation conveys the satirical and innovative style of Multatuli's autobiographical polemic. In his introduction, R. P. Meijer discusses the author's tempestuous life and career, the controversy the novel aroused and its unusual narrative structure.
language: English
title: Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company
titlecomplete: Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company
characters: Adinda, Max Havelaar, Saijah
genres: Historical, Literature, Classics, School, Novels, 19th Century, Indonesian Literature, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Dutch Literature
ratings_count: 8888
places: Southeast Asia, Netherlands, Indonesia, Java
publisher: Penguin Classics