Beb Vuyk
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Vuyk (born Rotterdam
, February 11, 1905 - died Blaricum
, August 24, 1991) was a Dutch
writer of Indo (Eurasian) descent. Her Indo father was born in the Dutch East Indies
and had a mother from Madura
, but was ‘repatriated’ to the Netherlands on a very young age. He married into a typically Calvinist Dutch family and lived in the port city of Rotterdam. Vuijk grew up in the Netherlands and went to her father’s land of birth in 1929 at the age of 24. 3 years later she married Fernand de Willigen, a native born Indo (Dutch father and Ambonese mother) that worked in the oil and tea plantations throughout the Indies. They had 2 sons, both born in the Dutch East Indies.
In the Dutch East Indies
she sympathised with the Indies independence movement and befriended Indonesian intellectual Sutan Sjahrir
via their common friend the famous author E. du Perron
. During WWII she was captive in a Japanese concentration camp. An account of these years named 'Kampdagboeken' was the last book she ever published in 1989.
Vuijk is considered a brilliant literary composer and won numerous awards throughout her career, among them the 1973 Constantijn Huygens Prize
. Much of her literary work is auto-biographical and clearly pinpoints the racial relationships in the colonial Dutch East Indies
and the paradoxes of the early post-colonial and revolutionary years.
and is sometimes compared to the writings of the great female Indo author Maria Dermoût
, who also lived in the Moluccas. Vuijk herself was quite outspoken about what she considered a clear distinction between her own rugged experience and the more elite experience of Dermoût.
In her 1947 book ‘De wilde groene geur’ (The wild green scent) she sharply describes the revolutionary period following the end of WWII with a keen eye for the different (Dutch, Indo and Indonesian) perspectives.
Having been brought up in the Netherlands she had often experienced racial bigotry in her childhood because of the darker complexion of her skin. She had developed a fighting spirit and could easily identify with the Indonesian independence movement. Vuijk befriended Indonesian intellectual and independence leader Sutan Sjahrir
and originally chose Indonesian citizenship before eventually returning to the Netherlands in 1957, due to strong anti-Dutch sentiments that prevailed in the period.
Back in the Netherlands Vuijk gained national fame by publishing the hugely popular cookbook ‘Groot Indonesische kookboek’ (Great Indonesian cookbook) in 1979. 30 years and 125.000 copies later the book was still popular and was added to the ‘Culinary Classics’ series.
(Translated to English in: Two Tales of the East Indies, 'The Last House in the World' by Beb Vuyk and translated by André Lefevere
. 'The Counselor' by H.J. Friedericy and translated by Hans Koning. Edited with introductions and notes by E.M. Beekman. (The University of Massachusetts Press, 1983) http://books.google.nl/books?id=gS6rffSns_MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Two+Tales+of+the+East+Indies&source=bl&ots=U9LfeK_hco&sig=xjP7dsXrhot17r4o1TP0aJ5kgG8&hl=nl&ei=x9X1S7zdEYWPOLePncUI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false )
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, February 11, 1905 - died Blaricum
Blaricum
Blaricum is a municipality and village in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.It is known for its many monumental farm buildings, local cafes and restaurants, nature, several annual community events and extensive up-market residential areas...
, August 24, 1991) was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
writer of Indo (Eurasian) descent. Her Indo father was born in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
and had a mother from Madura
Madura
Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately 4,250 km². Madura is administered as part of the East Java province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura.-History:...
, but was ‘repatriated’ to the Netherlands on a very young age. He married into a typically Calvinist Dutch family and lived in the port city of Rotterdam. Vuijk grew up in the Netherlands and went to her father’s land of birth in 1929 at the age of 24. 3 years later she married Fernand de Willigen, a native born Indo (Dutch father and Ambonese mother) that worked in the oil and tea plantations throughout the Indies. They had 2 sons, both born in the Dutch East Indies.
In the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
she sympathised with the Indies independence movement and befriended Indonesian intellectual Sutan Sjahrir
Sutan Sjahrir
Sutan Sjahrir , an avant garde and idealistic Indonesian intellectual, was a revolutionary independence leader...
via their common friend the famous author E. du Perron
Edgar du Perron
Charles Edgar du Perron, more commonly known as E. du Perron, was a famous and influential Dutch poet and author of Indo-European descent. Best known for his literary acclaimed master piece ‘Land van herkomst’ of 1935...
. During WWII she was captive in a Japanese concentration camp. An account of these years named 'Kampdagboeken' was the last book she ever published in 1989.
Vuijk is considered a brilliant literary composer and won numerous awards throughout her career, among them the 1973 Constantijn Huygens Prize
Constantijn Huygens Prize
The Constantijn Huygens Prize is a Dutch literary award.-History:Since 1947, it has been awarded each year for an author's complete works by the Jan Campert Foundation , a foundation named in honor of the Dutch writer Jan Campert who died while helping Jews during WWII...
. Much of her literary work is auto-biographical and clearly pinpoints the racial relationships in the colonial Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
and the paradoxes of the early post-colonial and revolutionary years.
Books
One of her critically acclaimed books is ‘Laatste huis van de wereld’ (Last house in the world), 1939, about intense adventure in primitive circumstances, but also fearful hardship in the pre-WWII Indies. The book was inspired by her own experiences living in the South MoluccasMaluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
and is sometimes compared to the writings of the great female Indo author Maria Dermoût
Maria Dermoût
Maria Dermoût , was an Indo novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature...
, who also lived in the Moluccas. Vuijk herself was quite outspoken about what she considered a clear distinction between her own rugged experience and the more elite experience of Dermoût.
”Much more than Maria DermoûtMaria DermoûtMaria Dermoût , was an Indo novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature...
I have lived in the middle of the indigenous world. Amidst the local population. We even ran with crooks, thugs and the most primitive of groups of the population on Buru. I take my own personal place in Dutch literature. After all, I am the only Indo author who does not write out of nostalgia.” Beb Vuijk, 1990.
In her 1947 book ‘De wilde groene geur’ (The wild green scent) she sharply describes the revolutionary period following the end of WWII with a keen eye for the different (Dutch, Indo and Indonesian) perspectives.
Having been brought up in the Netherlands she had often experienced racial bigotry in her childhood because of the darker complexion of her skin. She had developed a fighting spirit and could easily identify with the Indonesian independence movement. Vuijk befriended Indonesian intellectual and independence leader Sutan Sjahrir
Sutan Sjahrir
Sutan Sjahrir , an avant garde and idealistic Indonesian intellectual, was a revolutionary independence leader...
and originally chose Indonesian citizenship before eventually returning to the Netherlands in 1957, due to strong anti-Dutch sentiments that prevailed in the period.
"Nowhere in Dutch literature, the dramatic transition of the Dutch East Indies to independent Indonesia is described as penetrating as in the work of the Delfshaven (Rotterdam) born Vuyk. With evocations of the colonial system and its aftermath in three novels and the first years of the new republic in later novels, she recorded an episode, which remains among the most radical in the history of her motherland and it's colony." J.H.W. Veenstra.
Back in the Netherlands Vuijk gained national fame by publishing the hugely popular cookbook ‘Groot Indonesische kookboek’ (Great Indonesian cookbook) in 1979. 30 years and 125.000 copies later the book was still popular and was added to the ‘Culinary Classics’ series.
Publications
- 1932 - Vele namen
- 1937 - Duizend eilanden
- 1939 - Het laatste huis van de wereld
(Translated to English in: Two Tales of the East Indies, 'The Last House in the World' by Beb Vuyk and translated by André Lefevere
Andre Lefevere
André Alphons Lefevere was one of the most important translation theorists of the second half of the twentieth century. He had studied at the University of Ghent and then obtained his PhD at the University of Essex in 1972...
. 'The Counselor' by H.J. Friedericy and translated by Hans Koning. Edited with introductions and notes by E.M. Beekman. (The University of Massachusetts Press, 1983) http://books.google.nl/books?id=gS6rffSns_MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Two+Tales+of+the+East+Indies&source=bl&ots=U9LfeK_hco&sig=xjP7dsXrhot17r4o1TP0aJ5kgG8&hl=nl&ei=x9X1S7zdEYWPOLePncUI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false )
- 1947 - De wilde groene geur
- 1947 - Het hout van Bara
- 1959 - Gerucht en geweld
- 1969 - De eigen wereld en die andere
- 1971 - Een broer in Brazilië (second edition in 1982)
- 1972 - Verzameld werk
- 1973 - Groot Indonesisch kookboek
- 1982 - Vegetarische recepten uit de Indonesische keuken
- 1983 - Reis naar het Vaderland in de verte (travel stories)
- 1989 - Kampdagboeken (Camp diaries)
Other Indo authors
- Louis CouperusLouis CouperusLouis Marie-Anne Couperus was a Dutch novelist and poet during the Belle Époque. There is a wide variety of genres in his oeuvre, which contains poetry, fairy tales, psychological novels, and historical novels...
(1863–1923) - Victor IdoVictor IdoVictor Ido is the main alias of the Indo Dutch language writer and journalist Hans van de Wall. Born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies from a Dutch father and Indo mother...
(1869-1948) - Ernest Douwes DekkerErnest Douwes DekkerErnest François Eugène Douwes Dekker was an Indonesian freedom fighter and politician of Indo descent. He was related to the famous Dutch writer, Multatuli, whose real name was Eduard Douwes Dekker. In his youth, he took part in the Second Boer War in South Africa on the Boer side...
(1879–1950) - Maria DermoûtMaria DermoûtMaria Dermoût , was an Indo novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature...
(1888–1962) - Edgar du PerronEdgar du PerronCharles Edgar du Perron, more commonly known as E. du Perron, was a famous and influential Dutch poet and author of Indo-European descent. Best known for his literary acclaimed master piece ‘Land van herkomst’ of 1935...
(1899–1940) - Rob NieuwenhuysRob NieuwenhuysRob Nieuwenhuys was a Dutch writer of Indo descent. The son of a 'Totok' Dutchman and an Indo-European mother, he and his younger brother Roelof, grew up in Batavia, where his father was the managing director of the renowned Hotel des Indes .His Indies childhood profoundly influenced his life...
(1908–1999) - Tjalie RobinsonTjalie RobinsonTjalie Robinson is the main alias of the Indo intellectual and writer Jan Boon also known as Vincent Mahieu. His father Cornelis Boon, a KNIL sergeant, was Dutch and his Indo-European mother Fela Robinson was part English and Javanese...
(1911–1974) - Adriaan van DisAdriaan van DisAdriaan van Dis is a Dutch author, with Indo roots, who debuted in 1983 with the novella Nathan Sid. He is also known as the host of his own television show.-Youth:...
(1946- ) - Ernst JanszErnst JanszErnst Gideon Jansz is one of the founding members and frontmen of Doe Maar. Doe Maar is a Dutch 1980s ska/reggae band, and is considered one of the most successful bands in Dutch pop history....
(1948- ) - Marion BloemMarion BloemMarion Bloem is a Dutch writer and film maker of Indo descent, best known as author of the literary acclaimed book Geen gewoon Indisch meisje and director of the 2008 feature film Ver van familie .Bloem is a second generation Indo immigrant born into a family of four...
(1952- )
External links
- Profile at the Digital library for Dutch literatureDigital library for Dutch literatureThe Digital Library for Dutch Literature is a website about Dutch language and Dutch literature. The website contains thousands of literary texts, secondary literature and additional information, like biographies, portrayals etcetera, and hyperlinks...
- English translation of Beb Vuijk. Intro and preface by E.M.Beekman. Retrieved 21 May 2010.