Van de koele meren des doods
Encyclopedia
Dutch literature
Dutch literature comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers...
novel by Frederik van Eeden
Frederik van Eeden
Frederik Willem van Eeden was a late 19th century and early 20th century Dutch writer and psychiatrist...
, first published in 1900. It is one of the canonical Dutch novels, and is praised for its representation of the female protagonist; the novel established van Eeden as a "master of the psychological novel." A 1982 movie was based on the novel.
Plot
The novel relates the story of Hedwig Marga de Fontayne, the scion of a wealthy family, whose sexual frustration manifests itself as a death drive. After the death of her mother her father turns alcoholic, wasting the family's fortune. She begins to fantasize about sex and becomes a habitual masturbator; sexually frustrated, Hedwig marries but then runs off to England with a piano player. A child is born but dies quickly, and Hedwig goes to Paris, where she becomes a prostitute to support a morphine addiction. Destitute and descending into madness, she is admitted to the Pitié-Salpêtrière HospitalPitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...
, to the psychiatric ward where a friendly nurse helps her beat her addiction. She returns to the Netherlands, and spends her last years with a family that formerly farmed on the family's lands.
Reception and criticism
The novel was initially thought to be a case description of one of van Eeden's patients. Van Eeden, who was a psychiatristPsychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
, denied this in a preface to the second edition. The book was praised for its psychological realism by Henricus Cornelius Rümke, a well-known Dutch psychiatrist, who also pointed out that the main character has a mystical side to her. A Dutch literary critic recognizes medieval mystic Hadewych (of which "Hedwig" is a variant) in some of the book's passages, especially a dream sequence early in Hedwig's life (in the dream she is called "Hadewij").
While literary critic Ton Anbeek, who has written extensively on the subject of the naturalistic novel
Naturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...
, did classify Van de koele meren as naturalistic, he noted that the novel did not meet all seven of his defining characteristics for a naturalistic novel: the novel contains no instances of erlebte Rede
Free indirect speech
Free indirect speech is a style of third-person narration which uses some of the characteristics of third-person along with the essence of first-person direct speech...
, and the positive ending (the "salvation" of Hedwig) is "of course completely un-naturalistic." Another way in which van Eeden does not follow naturalistic tradition is that he "completely and consciously ignored the influence of hereditary factors." Indeed, according to one critic, the novel sets out to prove that "people are capable of changing their destiny."
The novel's position on women's sexuality and the sexual education of women has been studied extensively. Dutch critic Hannemieke Stamperius, for instance, saw in one of Hedwig's dreams a critique of the repressive way in which contemporary women were given sexual education. In an article published in Dutch feminist magazine Opzij
Opzij
Opzij is a mainstream Dutch feminist monthly magazine. It was founded as a radical feminist magazine in November 1972 by Wim Hora Adema and Hedy d'Ancona ; the title means both "out of the way!" and "about her." A former editor was Cisca Dresselhuys, who retired in 2008; the current editor is...
, Stamperius praised Van de koele meren as one of the most beautiful novels with a female protagonist written by a man.
Adaptations and translations
A movieVan de koele meren des doods (film)
Van de koele meren des doods is a Dutch film from 1982, directed by Nouchka van Brakel and based on the same-named novel by Frederik van Eeden. Book and film give an account of a bourgeois woman who struggles with her sexuality. The film is known internationally as Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes and The...
of the same name was made by Nouchka van Brakel
Nouchka van Brakel
Nouchka van Brakel is a Dutch film director known for her 1982 movie Van de koele meren des doods. That movie, and a movie about Eve and a documentary about Mary, established her as an important Dutch feminist film director...
, starring Renée Soutendijk
Renée Soutendijk
Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s...
. The novel was translated into English and published in 1974 as The Deeps of Deliverance, and again in 2009 as Hedwig's Journey.
External links
Van de koele meren des doods, text in the DBNLDigital library for Dutch literature
The 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...
Van de koele meren des doods in Librivox
LibriVox
LibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
(Audio book and E-book)