Elizabeth (Beb) Vuyk (born

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, 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 The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

and had a mother from Madura, but was ‘repatriated’ to the Netherlands on a very young age. She married into a typically

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

Dutch family and lived in the port city of Rotterdam. Vuyk 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

she sympathised with the Indies independence movement and befriended Indonesian intellectual

Sutan Sjahrir Sutan Sjahrir (5 March 1909 – 9 April 1966) was an Indonesian politician, and revolutionary independence leader, who served as the first Prime Minister of Indonesia, from 1945 until 1947. Previously, he was a key Indonesian nationalist organiz ...

via their common friend the famous author

E. du Perron Charles Edgar du Perron, more commonly known as E. du Perron, was an influential Dutch poet and author of Indo-European descent. He is best known for his literary acclaimed masterpiece ''Land van herkomst'' (''Land of origin'') of 1935. Together ...

. During World War II she was captive in a Japanese concentration camp. An account of these years named 'Kampdagboeken' was the last book she ever published in 1989. Vuyk 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

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-World War II Indies. The book was inspired by her own experiences living in the South Moluccas and is sometimes compared to the writings of the great female Indo author

Maria Dermoût Maria Dermoût (15 June 1888 – 27 June 1962) was an Indo-European novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature. In December 1958 ''Time'' magazine praised the tr ...

, who also lived in the Moluccas. Vuyk 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 Dermoût Maria Dermoût (15 June 1888 – 27 June 1962) was an Indo-European novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature. In December 1958 ''Time'' magazine praised the tr ...
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 Vuyk, 1990.

In her 1947 book ‘De wilde groene geur’ (The wild green scent) she sharply describes the revolutionary period following the end of World War II 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. Vuyk befriended Indonesian intellectual and independence leader

and chose Indonesian citizenship. In the 1950s, she joined the editorial board of Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana's cultural and arts magazine ''Konfrontasi'', and became the secretary of the journal's affiliate study club. She also wrote regularly

Mochtar Lubis Mochtar Lubis (; 7 March 1922 – 2 July 2004) was an Indonesian Batak journalist and novelist who co-founded ''Indonesia Raya'' and monthly literary magazine "Horison". His novel ''Senja di Jakarta'' (''Twilight in Jakarta'' in English) w ...

's news paper ''Indonesia Raya''. But she eventually returned 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 Vuyk wrote for '' Vrij Nederland'', where in 1960 she published "Weekeinde met Richard Wright," an important article on the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

author Richard Wright, responding to some of the narratives Wright published in his 1956 book '' The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference''. Vuyk gained national fame in the Netherlands 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 André Alphons Lefevere (1945 – 27 March 1996) was a translation theorist. He had studied at the University of Ghent (1964–1968) and then obtained his PhD at the University of Essex in 1972. When he died of acute leukemia, he was Professor of ...

. '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 The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 1983

) * 1947 – ''De wilde groene geur'' * 1947 – ''Het hout van Bara'' * 1959 – ''Gerucht en geweld'' * 1960 – "Weekeinde met Richard Wright" in '' Vrij Nederland'', 19 and 26 Nov. 1960 (Translated by in English as "A Weekend with Richard Wright" in Brian Russell Roberts and Keith Foulcher's ''Indonesian Notebook: A Sourcebook on Richard Wright and the Bandung Conference'' urham: Duke University Press 2016.) * 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)

References

Bibliography

* Nieuwenhuys, Rob ''‘Oost-Indische spiegel. Wat Nederlandse schrijvers en dichters over Indonesië hebben geschreven vanaf de eerste jaren der Compagnie tot op heden.’'' (Querido's Publishers, Amsterdam, 1978) * Scova Righini, Bert, ''‘Een leven in twee vaderlanden – Een biografie van Beb Vuijk’'' (KITLV, 2006)

External links

Profile
at the

Digital library for Dutch literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

English translation of Beb Vuijk. Intro and preface by E.M.Beekman.
Retrieved 21 May 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuyk, Beb 1905 births 1991 deaths Dutch people of Indonesian descent Writers from Rotterdam Indo people Constantijn Huygens Prize winners Dutch women novelists 20th-century women writers 20th-century Dutch novelists 20th-century Dutch women