Multatuli
Multatuli was the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker, a Dutch writer whose fiction and essays condemned colonial exploitation in the Dutch East Indies.
Max Havelaar: An 1860 novel by Multatuli that exposed abuses in the Dutch East Indies through layered narration and satire. This novel made his indictment of colonial administration widely known.
Eduard Douwes Dekker: A Dutch colonial administrator and writer who published under the name Multatuli. His life supplies the identity behind the pen name.
Tine Douwes Dekker: The first wife of Eduard Douwes Dekker, born Everdine Huberte Baroness van Wijnbergen. Her letters and presence in the couple's life inform the personal context of his early writing.
Dutch colonialism in Indonesia: The Netherlands' political and economic domination of the Indonesian archipelago, ending with Indonesian independence. His writing became a prominent Dutch-language critique of this colonial system.
Minnebrieven: A 1861 prose work by Multatuli, framed as letters and combining satire, argument, and personal writing. It develops the political and literary arguments that followed Max Havelaar.
Dutch East Indies: The Dutch colonial territory in the Indonesian archipelago, governed by the Netherlands until Indonesian independence. Dekker's experience there gave his political writing its subject and setting.
Jacob van Lennep: A Dutch novelist, poet, and politician who helped prepare Max Havelaar for publication. His editorial intervention helped bring the novel into print in 1860.
Indonesian nationalism: A movement for political unity and independence among the peoples of the Dutch East Indies. Indonesian nationalists later treated Max Havelaar as evidence of colonial injustice.
Ideas (Multatuli): A multi-volume collection of aphorisms, essays, stories, and reflections published by Multatuli from 1862 onward. Its fragmentary form let him range beyond the colonial critique of his famous novel.
Lebak: A regency in western Java where Douwes Dekker served as assistant resident in 1856. His conflict with local and colonial officials there helped precipitate his resignation.