The black lake
The black lake (Dutch. Oeroeg ) is a novel by the Dutch author Hella Haasse (Hélène Serafia Haasse), which was first published in 1948 as a boekenweek present . The novel was first published in German by Rowohlt in 1994; In 2016 a new translation was published by Lilienfeld Verlag.
action
The novel is about the friendship of two boys in the Dutch East Indies who come from different social backgrounds. One of the boys comes from a Dutch entrepreneur, the other is the son of a Mandoer (Indonesian foreman ) who works in the father's company and is called Oeroeg. The novel is told from the perspective of the Dutch boy who has grown up in the meantime.
Oeroeg and the first-person narrator are childhood friends. Despite the social differences, they manage to enjoy their youth together. The narrator's father does not value this friendship. He is of the opinion that Dutch boys should not play with boys from the villages and wants the narrator to learn Dutch so that he can go to school later. On a trip to the black lake, where the father, the narrator himself, business partners and the father of Oeroeg are present, there is an accident in which Oeroeg's father dies - while trying to save the narrator from drowning. This results in major changes for the protagonists. Oeroeg's family has to move out of the Mandoer's house and is accommodated in a run-down house. Oeroeg himself moves to the narrator's premises and attends a school for Javanese. A short time after the excursion, the narrator's mother leaves the father and travels to Europe. The narrator develops guilt.
After the narrator and Oeroeg have finished their first school and the father is on a business trip for a long time, they both move to another place. The narrator goes to boarding school and later wants to become an engineer. Oeroeg lives with Lida, a Dutch nurse who runs a pension in the Dutch East Indies. He goes to a school for half-Dutch people and later wants to become a doctor and emigrate to America.
The difference between Oeroeg and the narrator is becoming increasingly clear. Although Oereog tries to act like a European, he is often disfellowshipped and raised by the narrator's schoolmates. Oeroeg also comes to boarding school. He becomes a nationalist . When the narrator is saying goodbye - he wants to go to the Netherlands to study there - there is a heated argument between Oeroeg, Abdoellah and the narrator. Abdollah, a friend of Oeroeg, and Oeroeg accuse the narrator of various things relating to discrimination. The narrator realizes that there is an insurmountable gap between him and Oeroeg.
Much changes while he studies in the Netherlands. With the Second World War , with the Japanese invasion of Indonesia and the subsequent declaration of independence, a war between the Netherlands and the nationalists over Indonesia ensues. Here the narrator's father dies. Despite the dangers, the narrator definitely wants to return to Indonesia. There he first drives with soldiers to his old home, of which not much is left.
He goes to the black lake. There a Javanese threatens him, who orders the narrator to disappear. The narrator believes he recognizes Oeroeg in the Javanese, but is unsure. Since soldiers can be heard in the background, the Javanese flees. The narrator is left with the uncertainty as to whether it really was Oeroeg. He realizes that he has lost the ability to recognize Oeroeg. He also notices that Oeroeg is like the black lake - he only recognizes the reflective surface, but cannot see inside.
filming
The novel was filmed in the Netherlands in the 1990s . This is not an attempt to copy the novel as accurately as possible. Rather, it is a further narration of the novel in which the prehistory is reconstructed through memories of individual people. Some characters are missing and some new ones are being introduced. It can also be clearly assumed in the film that the first-person narrator, in the film his name is Johann, does not see Oeroeg am See, because he is in prison in the film at that time.
Web links
supporting documents
- ^ Opzoeken: mandoer. Retrieved December 21, 2010 .