Author | Louis Couperus |
---|---|
Original title | 'Noodlot' |
Translator | Clara Bell |
Country | Netherlands |
Language | Dutch |
Publisher | Elsevier, in England with Heinemann's International Library |
Publication date | 1891 |
Published in English | 1891 |
Footsteps of Fate (Dutch: Noodlot) is a novel written by Louis Couperus and published in 1891. Footsteps of Fate was first published in the Dutch magazine "De Gids" (October 1890). [1] In 1891 the novel was translated into English by Clara Bell and published under the title Footsteps of Fate. The first two Dutch editions were published by Elsevier (in 1891 and 1893); the second to eighth editions were published by L. J. Veen , except for the sixth edition, which was published by De samenwerkende Uitgevers. [2] The English translation was published with Heinemann's International Library, under the authority of Edmund Gosse. His attention was drawn to this book by Maarten Maartens.
The novel tells the story of two lovers, Frank and Eve. They become separated as a result of the intrigues of Frank's childhood friend, Bertie. Bertie, who has become down and out, has met Frank again in London by coincidence and now lives together with him. Because Bertie is afraid of losing Frank's attention, he makes Frank believe that Eve is no longer true to him by hiding the letters Eve writes to Frank. When Frank finally finds out the truth, he kills Bertie in a fit of anger, after which he is imprisoned for several years. Eventually, Frank and Eve commit suicide together by taking in poison.
The story in part takes place in Trondheim and surroundings.
Footsteps of Fate was published by Elsevier after publisher P.N. van Kampen refused the novel. The reason for this refusal was that the owner of P.N. van Kampen found the content of Footsteps of Fate not consistent with his religious belief. [3] After an English translation was made by Clara Bell, Footsteps of Fate got a bad review in the English newspaper "Saturday Review". In the review, it was said that Louis Couperus was a typical sensitivist. The murder scene of the book was described as: One eye was a shapeless mass, half pulp and jelly; the other stared out of the oval socket, like a large dull melancholy opal. We presume that the account of the shapeless eye avoids the vagaries of impressionism and that of the opal eye the brutality of naturalism. A more morbid, an uglier or a sillier story we have not read for a long time. [4]
Footsteps of Fate was made into a play (drama in three acts) by Gerrit Jäger [5] and performed on stage at the Tivoli-Theater in Rotterdam in 1892. [6] In 1893, it was performed at the Van Lier Theater in Rotterdam. The reviewer in "Het Nieuws van de Dag" was not amused by the play and wrote: it may be fashionable for moonstruck youngsters and abnormal young and old ladies; those who still have some common sense will be cured after they have seen this theatrical performance of "Footsteps of Fate". [7] The Dutch stage critic A.C. Loffelt wrote that if he had been responsible for the dramatization of Footsteps of Fate he would have bought a gun and shot himself morally. [8]
Not only the play received a bad review; a critic wrote in the "Leeuwarder Courant" about the book: The book made me resentful and when I finished it I felt like someone who had scrupulously fulfilled a heavy duty until the end. [9] Another critic wrote: I feel aversion when I read about young people in an area of weakness and effeminacy, spiritual opium smokers, who love each other like women do, put their head into each others lap and call that weakness faith. [10] On the occasion of the publication of Eline Vere and Footsteps of Fate in February 1891 in an extraordinary meeting of the Association of Dutch Teachers a lecture was held about fatal determinism. [11] In this meeting J. van Loenen Martinet described the fatalism in the novels of Couperus as a symptom of a disease which consisted of a determinism that denied the facts of moral life. [12]
Oscar Wilde however was very impressed by Footsteps of Fate and wrote Louis Couperus a letter to compliment him with his novel. As a result of this contact the wife of Couperus, Elisabeth Couperus-Baud, received order to translate Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray into Dutch. [13] Present day literature scientists believe that Couperus was inspired by Henrik Ibsen's Gespenster when writing Eline Vere and Footsteps of Fate. [14] They also think that the character of Frank was based on that of Johan Hendrik Ram, a military figure Couperus knew very well (assumptions have been made, in particular by Frédéric Bastet, that Couperus and Ram once had a love affair). [15]
Louis Marie-Anne Couperus was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological and historical novels, novellas, short stories, fairy tales, feuilletons and sketches. Couperus is considered to be one of the foremost figures in Dutch literature. In 1923, he was awarded the Tollensprijs.
Johannes Drost was a Dutch backstroke swimmer and diver who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
Simon Berman was the mayor of Kwadijk, Middelie, Warder, Schagen, Bedum, and Alblasserdam in the Netherlands. He was the first mayor of Kwadijk, Middelie, and Warder to actually live in one of those villages. As a popular mayor of Schagen, he handled a double murder case that drew national media attention and advanced a professional school and regional light rail and canals. In Alblasserdam, he addressed the local impacts of World War I. Berman is also known for his association with Christian anarchism.
Elisabeth Wilhelmina Johanna (Betty) Couperus-Baud, was a Dutch translator. She was the wife of the Dutch writer Louis Couperus (1863–1923).
Albert Vogel was a Dutch officer, teacher and performer.
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Conrad Theodor "Coen" van Deventer was a Dutch lawyer, an author about the Dutch East Indies and a member of parliament of the Netherlands. He became known as the spokesman of the Dutch Ethical Policy Movement. He lived at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague (1903–1915), former residence of John Ricus Couperus, his son writer Louis Couperus and the rest of his family (1884–1902).
A ribbon of poems was the literary debut of Dutch writer Louis Couperus. The collection of poetry A ribbon of poems received a good review by critic J.H. van Hall in the Dutch literary magazine "The Gids"; Van Hall compared Couperus' poetry with those written by Heinrich Heine, Everhardus Johannes Potgieter and Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft; Jan ten Brink, Couperus' teacher and later professor at the University of Leiden drew comparisons with Constantijn Huygens. Not every critic however was that positive; Couperus' debut was also termed "contrived and effeminate".
Orchids, a collection of prose and poetry is a collection of prose and poetry written by Dutch writer Louis Couperus, which was published in 1886. Couperus published his debut, A ribbon of poems in 1886 with publisher J.L. Beijers. The rights to publish Couperus' books were taken over by publisher A. Rössing, who then published the second book of Couperus, Orchids, a collection of prose and poetry. After Rössing filed for bankruptcy in 1890 the rights were taken over by L.J. Veen, who would publish the second edition in 1895. In 1989 Veen would reprint Orchids, when Couperus' complete works were published.
Schimmen van schoonheid is a collection of short stories, written by Louis Couperus and published by Van Holkema & Warendorf in 1912. It is not known how many copies were printed for the first edition, but this edition was in any case sold out by 1929. The second edition was published in 1962 by Querido in the so-called Salamander series.
Ecstasy: A Study of Happiness is a novel written by Louis Couperus and published in 1892 by L.J. Veen in a first edition of 1,250–1,500 copies. A second edition was printed in 1894 and a third in 1905. Ecstasy was the first book of Couperus that was published by L.J. Veen, later his regular publisher. Couperus received a wage of 550 guilders for the first edition. Ecstasy was first published in the Dutch literary magazine The Gids. The book was translated into English by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos in 1919 and published by Dodd, Mead and Company.
Williswinde is a collection of verses written by Dutch writer Louis Couperus. The first edition was published by L.J. Veen in 1895. In 1904 Veen acquired full rights of Williswinde and 16 other works that were written by Couperus. For the first edition in 1894 Couperus received 200 guilders and the poems by that time had already been published in a number of Dutch newspapers and magazines. However Couperus had some difficulty to get the poem Williswinde published, as he wrote in a letter to a colleague, Smit Kleine. The book cover was designed by painter Ludwig Willem Reymert Wenckebach.
Hotel Des Indes is a hotel located at the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, The Netherlands. It was constructed as a mansion in 1858. In 1881, it opened as a hotel.
Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij was a Dutch shipyard active as an independent company from 1854 till 1929. At first it was simply known as 'Wilton'. In 1921 the final Dutch name became: 'Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij NV', the equivalent of 'Wilton Engineering and Slipway Company'. Wilton started as a traditional smithy and expanded in machinery. It specialized in ship repairs, but also became a shipyard. At first only for fresh water ships. In spite of multiple name changes the company was commonly referred to as 'Wilton'. In 1929 a merger with Fijenoord led to a new company known as Wilton-Fijenoord.
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Louis Johan Alexander Schoonheyt (1903-1986), commonly known as L. J. A. Schoonheyt, was a Dutch medical doctor, writer, and supporter of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands before World War II. From 1935 to 1936 he was the camp doctor at the Boven-Digoel concentration camp in New Guinea, Dutch East Indies, and is mostly known today for the book he wrote about his experiences there, Boven-Digoel: Het land van communisten en kannibalen (1936). His praise for the conditions in the camp earned him the ire of the internees, Indonesian nationalists, and Dutch human rights advocates; E. du Perron called him a 'colonial bandit', while many internees burned his book after reading it in the camp.
Berthold Hartwig Arthur, Graf von Bernstorff was a German politician, forester and landowner. He served in the Reichstag from 1893 until 1907. In 1893, he bought the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog.