Augusta de Wit (1864–1939)
Author of Orpheus in de dessa
About the Author
Works by Augusta de Wit
Een witte angora en enige mensen! 5 copies
Natuur en menschen in Indië 4 copies
Island-India 3 copies
De wijdere wereld, de wit 1 copy
Associated Works
Oogst der tijden : keur uit de werken van schrijvers en dichters aller volken en eeuwen (1940) — Contributor — 10 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Wit, Augusta de
- Legal name
- Wit, Anna Augusta Henriëtte de
- Other names
- Sylvius, G.W. (pseudonym)
- Birthdate
- 1864-11-25
- Date of death
- 1939-02-09
- Burial location
- Oude Begraafplaats, Oosterbeek, Renkum, Netherlands
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Netherlands
- Birthplace
- Sibolga, Sumatra, Indonesia
- Place of death
- Baarn, Netherlands
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies - Education
- Cambridge University, Girton College
Bedford College - Occupations
- journalist
author
novelist
teacher
travel writer - Short biography
- Augusta de Wit was born on Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, (present-day Indonesia), the daughter of a high colonial government official. In 1874, when she was 10 years old, the family returned to the Netherlands. She studied at Bedford College, London and the University of Cambridge. In 1894-1896, she taught German, English and history at a girls' school in Batavia, Java. She also wrote a column for the English-language Singapore Straits Times later collected into a book called Facts and Fancies about Java. She made her debut as a fiction writer in 1895 with Eigen Haard and in 1903, published her most famous book, the novel Orpheus in de dessa. She then worked as a correspondent for Dutch-language newspapers such as the Utrechtsch Dagblad and the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. She travelled widely and lived in Amsterdam, Italy, Freiburg, Zurich, Paris, and Germany. In 1907, she published the novel Het dure moederschap, and issued collections of short stories with East Indian themes in 1918 and 1920. From 1914 to 1921, she lived mainly in the Netherlands, where she was active in the Communist Party.
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Statistics
- Works
- 13
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 115
- Popularity
- #170,830
- Rating
- 3.1
- Reviews
- 1
- ISBNs
- 9
- Languages
- 1
As far as my knowledge of literature goes these sketches are something absolutely new. Of course the islands of the Southern Pacific happen to be a theme of the hour, but it would be absurd to compare the cheerful journalism of (for instance) O'Brien's books with the deep knowledge and amazing technique of Miss de Wit. Far to the westward of O'Brien's haunts loom the great islands of the Indies, set in their shallow seas where Conrad's ships go to and fro. By way of equipment for her task Miss de Wit went so far as to be born in the islands, where her father was Resident first of the Western Coast of Sumatra and later of Timor. Readers of Conrad will remember that it was in a port of Timor that poor Morrison's brig was seized by the authorities and saved by Heyst; I feel it due to the memory of Resident de Wit to remark that Timor is half Portuguese, and that it was in the Portuguese harbor of Deli that this scandalous abuse of power occurred.
Miss de Wit received her education in Europe, returning more than once to the islands, and years later, after her family had come to Holland to live, she spent three years in travel in the Indies, visiting all the greater islands--Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, Timor, the Lesser Sundas, New Guinea--and many of the smaller ones. These lands are all held by Conrad, in fealty to Apollo. What foothold has he left for other explorers?… (more)