Surinamestraat 20 in The Hague is the location of the house where the Dutch writer
Louis Couperus
Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 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 s ...
Eline Vere
''Eline Vere'' is an 1889 novel by the Dutch writer Louis Couperus. It was adapted into the 1991 film '' Eline Vere'', directed by Harry Kümel. Couperus wrote ''Eline Vere'' in the house at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague.
Reception
The naturalis ...
''. The father of Couperus, John Ricus Couperus (1816-1902) gave orders to build this house; he first sold his estate "Tjicoppo", which was located near
Buitenzorg
Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Dutch East Indies and then returned to the Netherlands, where he and his family moved into this house. John Ricus Couperus lived here until his death in 1902 and then the house was put up for sale.
History
The Couperus family started living in this house in 1884 and between 1887 and 1888 this was the place where Louis Couperus wrote his novel Eline Vere. After the death of John Ricus Couperus the house was put up for sale and in 1903 bought by lawyer and writer Conrad Theodor van Deventer. He died in 1915 but his widow lived in the house until 1927, when the house was sold to the Egyptian embassy. From this date until August 2009 the house remained in use as such, when it was put up for sale. Some parts of the house are still authentic and have not been changed over the years.
When the house came on the market in 2006 professor
Arnold Heertje
Arnold Heertje (19 February 1934 – 4 April 2020) was a Dutch economist and professor at the University of Amsterdam, writer and columnist. He became more generally known for his opposition to the Betuweroute.
Life and career
Heertje was bor ...
, a Dutch economist, the Dutch writers
Hella Haasse
Hélène "Hella" Serafia Haasse (2 February 1918 – 29 September 2011) was a Dutch writer, often referred to as the "Grande Dame" of Dutch literature, and whose novel ''Oeroeg'' (1948) was a staple for generations of Dutch schoolchildren. Her ...
and
Arnon Grunberg
Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg (; born 22 February 1971) is a Dutch writer of novels, essays, and columns, as well as a journalist. He published some of his work under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt. He lives in New York. His work has been transla ...
and others tried to gather funds to buy the house and keep it for the public. Later a
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
, called ''Stichting Couperus Surinamestraat'' was founded; its main aim was to create a Louis Couperus Museum within the house. However the foundation failed to achieve this goal because it could not find sponsors that would donate the 3 million Euro, which was necessary to buy the house. Dutch minister
Ronald Plasterk
Ronald Hans Anton Plasterk (; born 12 April 1957) is a Dutch scientist, entrepreneur and retired politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He has earned a PhD degree in biology, specialised in molecular genetics. Being a former Minister of the Du ...
was asked for help but he refused to donate funds to buy the house because he thought that the ''Nederlands Letterkundig Museum'' (the Dutch Literature Museum, located at the
National library
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...
) proved enough honour to support the heritage of Couperus.Surinamestraat 20 /ref> Today, the house is still for sale.
File:Couperus, JR - kopie.jpg, John Ricus Couperus, lawyer and father of Louis Couperus lived here from 1884-1902
File:Moeder Couperus.jpg, Mrs John Ricus Couperus, mother of Louis Couperus
File:Couperus overleden.jpg,
Louis Couperus
Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 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 s ...
wrote ''
Eline Vere
''Eline Vere'' is an 1889 novel by the Dutch writer Louis Couperus. It was adapted into the 1991 film '' Eline Vere'', directed by Harry Kümel. Couperus wrote ''Eline Vere'' in the house at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague.
Reception
The naturalis ...
'' in this house
File:Wenckebach 1898.jpg, ''
Eline Vere
''Eline Vere'' is an 1889 novel by the Dutch writer Louis Couperus. It was adapted into the 1991 film '' Eline Vere'', directed by Harry Kümel. Couperus wrote ''Eline Vere'' in the house at Surinamestraat 20, The Hague.
Reception
The naturalis ...
'' was written in this house in 1887-1888
File:Van Deventer, Conrad Theodor.jpg, Lawyer and member of parliament
Conrad Theodor van Deventer
Conrad Theodor "Coen" van Deventer (29 September 1857, in Dordrecht – 27 September 1915, in The Hague) 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 o ...