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Loading... Eline Vere (original 1889; edition 1889)by Louis Couperus
Work InformationEline Vere by Louis Couperus (1889)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. READ IN DUTCH Ook voor Nederlands kwam ik in aanraking met Eline Vere van Louis Couperus. Eerlijk gezegd koos ik het boek vooral doordat ik ooit de film al eens gezien had, jaren geleden, en ik was daarom ook nieuwsgierig naar het boek. Ik herinnerde me niet al te veel meer over film, schijnbaar had vooral de scene waarin ze het huis van haar zuster ontvlucht erg veel indruk op me gemaakt! Het boek gaat over Eline Vere, een jonge meid in de upper-class van Den Haag. Haar leven bestaat uit het ene naar het andere dinertje, feestje, maar bovenal is haar leven nep. Ze moet zich steeds anders voordoen dan ze is en dan ze zou willen en uiteindelijk raakt ze de grip op de werkelijkheid en de wereld steeds verder kwijt. Ik vond dit een mooi boek. De stijl vond ik vrij theatraal, maar dat paste perfect in de setting van het verhaal. Het verhaal vond ik ook boeiend om te lezen, al lijkt het me vreselijk in zo'n periode geleefd te moeten hebben, in zo'n situatie. Het is al zeer snel duidelijk dat Eline behoorlijk depressieve buien heeft, maar haar omgeving vind dit niet ernstig of doet er althans niets mee. Op een gegeven moment is ze ontzettend gelukkig, maar daarna verdwijnt dat allemaal weer, en toen had ik zo'n medelijden met haar. De schrijfstijl verder is een beetje ouderwets, maar daar kan het arme boek zelf natuurlijk ook niets aan doen. Ik had er verder ook niet al te veel moeite mee, maar het remt het leestempo wel natuurlijk. Ik vond het eigenlijk een beter boek dan ik verwacht had, en daarom waardeer ik het ook met 4 sterren. Did not finish. I had to stop after about 3 or 4 chapters. The feeling of desperation, listlessness and depression became so overwhelming that I feared for my sanity and taking drastic measures myself. The writing is that good, in the sense that the novel manages to convey Eline's situation so poignantly. Mind you, I was a slightly depressed teenager at the time, so the emotions sunk in deep. Not recommended if you're having doubts as to the meaning of it all yourself. I read the version put out by Archipelago Books. It was a lovely book to hold. I really enjoyed its comfortable heft, the binding, the font, the overall design and texture of the cover. It may have been about the stodgier side of the Hague in the 19th century, but the book itself was a sensual delight. Every time I turned a page, I enjoyed touching the paper it was printed on. This was very fitting since there is a lot of material culture in it. There was a sameness to what people said; the details came out in how they related to each other's furniture. This book had a pleasant fly-in-amber quality about life in The Hague for a certain class of people at a certain time, and like Andy Warhol's 'Empire' it develops it's own scale of action. Every night I climbed into this book and braced myself for the moment the lights would come on. They never did. I enjoyed it anyway.
'Eline Vere" first appeared in 1889, and its success launched the career of Louis Couperus (1863-1923), now regarded as the greatest Dutch novelist of his time. That may sound like faint praise. It shouldn't. With this "novel of The Hague," Couperus produced one of those beautifully composed, old-style realist novels that present an entire society to us while simultaneously questioning its values. If you enjoy Tolstoy or Trollope, you really should try Ina Rilke's new translation of this superb, albeit too little-known book. Belongs to Publisher Series's Werelds meest geliefde boeken (dl. 52) Is contained inInspiredHas as a reference guide/companion
Louis Couperus was catapulted to prominence in 1889 with Eline Vere, a psychological masterpiece inspired by Flaubert and Tolstoy. Eline Vere is a young heiress: dreamy, impulsive, and subject to bleak moods. Though beloved among her large coterie of friends and relations, there are whispers that she is an eccentric: she has been known to wander alone in the park as well indulge in long, lazy philosophical conversations with her vagabond cousin. When she accepts the marriage proposal of a family friend, she is thrust into a life that looks beyond the confines of The Hague, and her overpowering, ever-fluctuating desires grow increasingly blurred and desperate. Only Couperus--as much a member of the elite socialite circle of fin-de-siècle The Hague as he was a virulent critic of its oppressive confines--could have filled this "Novel of The Hague" with so many superbly rendered and vividly imagined characters from a milieu now long forgotten. Award-winning translator Ina Rilke's new translation of this Madame Bovary of The Netherlands will reintroduce to the English-speaking world the greatest Dutch novelist of his generation. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.3135Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Netherlandish literatures Dutch Dutch fiction 19th CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This book is the story of Eline Vere, a well-to-do but mentally unstable young woman living in The Hague. Her manic-depressive tendencies make her various relationships volatile and unfulfilling. Eline and her relationships with her sister, brother-in-law, and various love interests are central to the over-arching flow of the book, but there are plenty of other characters to follow as well.
I loved this book and definitely recommend it to others who love this time period of writing. I think it is "under-known" in English. In fact, the only print copy of it I could find easily in English translation is an Archipelago publication from 2013. It was my first Archipelago book and, as a side note, I love the book quality - very nice cover, binding, paper, etc. ( )