Dutch novelist Louis Couperus was born in The Hague in 1863. His father
was an official in the Dutch government, and when Louis was ten years
old his father was appointed to a position in Java, Indonesia (then a
Dutch colony known as the Dutch East Indies), and the family moved
there. They were there for five years when his father suddenly died,
and the family returned to Holland. He graduated from the University of
Holland at The Hague, and was hired there as a teacher.
He published his first novel, "Elina Veere", in 1889 and was critically
acclaimed by the Dutch "realist" school of literature. The book's
success enabled him to leave teaching and devote his full time to
writing. He returned often to Java for inspiration and used the
location as a background in much of his work. He married in 1891 and he
and his wife moved to Italy from Holland after his mother died. In 1921
he returned to the Dutch East Indies as a correspondent for the
"Haagsche Post" newspaper.
His work resulted in his becoming one of the most famous writers in
Holland. One reviewer called him "unquestionably a major novelist of
the world, hidden away in the Dutch language". He was awarded the Order
of Orange Nassau in 1896 and the prestigious Order of the Netherlands
Lion in 1923; as part of that award, he was given a house in the
country. Ironically, shortly after he moved into that house he received
either an insect bite or a scratch; he contracted blood poisoning, and
died from it on July 16, 1923.
