Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Com... by Multatuli

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. Multituli is Latin for 'I have suffered greatly' and it is the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker (1920-1887). Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who wrote the Introduction to my edition, called Max Havelaar ' earthshaking' and (according to Wikipedia) 'the book that killed colonialism.' 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. 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. 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.

This is the first new English translation of Multatuli's furious and funny masterpiece in more than fifty years'- … ( more) Based on the author's true experiences as an administrator in Java, Max Havelaar is a fiery indictment of colonial misrule and one of the masterpieces of Dutch literature. But his spirited young son Frits and romanticsouled German assistant Ernest Stern discover something much more astonishing: a scandal that strikes at the heart of the whole Dutch colonial enterprise. Drystubble pores over the documents in the hopes of lucrative revelations about the coffee trade.

Why don't the financial statements add up? Did the previous assistant resident really die a natural death? And why are his superiors obstructing his efforts to learn the truth? A few years later in Amsterdam, the stolid Dutch coffee broker Batavus Drystubble obtains Havelaar's papers from the threadbare Shawlman, who wanders the streets in search of work. Some think him a fool, others a genius, but 'one thing is certain: he was an unusual man, and worthy of observation.' As Havelaar crusades against corruption, he makes a few unsettling observations of his own. The new assistant resident, Max Havelaar, arrives in the remote regency of Lebak, preceded by his reputation as a quixotic idealist.

Max Havelaar, or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Com... by Multatuli