Louis Couperus

Louis Couperus

Birth : 1863-06-09, The Hague, Netherlands

Death : 1923-07-16

History

Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (1863–1923) 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. Many of his novels and stories are set either in the Dutch East Indies, where he spent much of his younger life, or in The Hague where he was born, though his work also contains impressions of Italy, Africa and China; the fruits of his tireless travelling. Couperus came to fame with the publication of his novel Eline Vere (1888), a naturalist work influenced by French novelists like Emile Zola and Gustave Flaubert. Couperus' 1891 novel Noodlot (Footsteps of Fate) was much admired by Oscar Wilde. Couperus' later works include De Stille Kracht (The Hidden Force, 1900) and De Berg van Licht (The Mountain of Light, 1906), a decadent novel set at the height of the Roman Empire. His psychological novels, such as De Boeken der Kleine Zielen (The Books of the Small Souls, 1901-1902) and Van Oude Menschen, de Dingen, die Voorbij gaan... (Of old people and the Things that Pass, 1906) enjoyed much success in English speaking countries after the First World War. His historical novels were very popular in Germany. Couperus' books sold better abroad than in the narrow-minded calvinistic Netherlands of his days.

Profile

Louis Couperus

Movies

The Binocle
Original Story
A short film based on the short story "De Binocle" by Dutch writer Louis Couperus. It tells the story of a nervous man who on one evening while going to the opera becomes the victim of his own obsessive thoughts.
A Woman of the North
Novel
Young Dutch widow Emilie travels to a seaside resort in Italy, where she falls in love with Italian officer Aldo. Meanwhile, her deceased husband's assistant Hugo plans to propose to her as soon as the period of mourning is over.
Eline Vere
Writer
This melodramatic film follows Eline Vere, as she attempts to break free from the confines of her narrow existence in The Hague through three tumultuous and ultimately disastrous courtships. Adaptation of Louis Couperus' novel Eline Vere.