Eline Vere is probably the best-known novel by 19th
century Dutch author Louis Couperus.
It is a
story about the influence of how ‘nerves’ can ruin a life, a story about high
expectations and how they crumble in real life and most of all a story how one
cannot escape fate.
Eline Vere
lives in The hague with her married sister. She is bored in their wealthy
environment and the circle of families they keep company with. Eline longs for
a passionate life and has many fantasies about what she could do, feeling these
fantasies place her above the people in het circles who would not dare dream of
such things.
Eline gets
engaged with Otto, a quiet and serious man who can give Eline the stability she
needs. For some times Eline does feel she and Otto could be perfectly happy,
but in the end she breaks of the engagement.
After that,
things go downhill for her. She ruins her health and she has no home anymore,
she lives either with her uncle un Brussels, or a relative in The Hague and
later on her own in some rented rooms in a pension for ladies. She never finds
happiness again and when there is a change she might be happy, she feels she
does not deserve this because she caused Otto so much pain. She gets
morphinedrops from the doctor to help her sleep, but she becomes addicted to
them and finally they will be fatal for her.
Eline Vere is set in a rich environment in The Hague, at
the end of the nineteenth century. All the characters in the novel know each other
very well and share the same kind of values, keeping up appearances and
standing is very important.
Eline plays
a role of the elegant young lady or the devoted fiancée, who fits in perfectly,
although she feels she does not fit in at all.
She hopes
for more, more drama and more excitement. She has fantasies in which she thinks
a tenor in the opera is in love with her. She goes out every morning to take
long walks in the park in the hope she will encounter him and she buys his
portraits that she keeps in a special album. Only when she once sees him
without the theatrical costumes she realizes her fantasies are nonsense and her
hopes are shattered.
 |
| Louis Couperus |
Eline wants
many things, but she does not have the strength to make it happen. Couperus makes it clear this is a
hereditary thing; her father was a painter who was too weak to become a great
artist and also her cousin Vincent is weak and indecisive.
Eline likes
Vincent because he reminds her of her father and she gets it in her head that
she is the only person who understand and appreciates Vincent and even that
Vincent is in love with her. A huge row with Otto about Vincent was a major
factor in breaking of the engagement.
Eline’s
ending is inevitable, her physical health is ruined, but her mental health
prevents her from getting better.
This book
was first published as a feuilleton in a magazine and it has been reprinted
many times. I read this book the first time when I was 16 and I bought a
paperback version then. Just a few weeks back I bought a hardback copy, and I
reread the book.
Couperus is not stingy with words, he writes in long
and flowing sentences, with many (many) adjectives. Not everybody will like
this, but for me the characteristic richness of the style is part of Couperus’
charm.
The story
is not just about Eline Vere, but also about other people in her circles. Not
everything is as interesting, but all in all I think I can safely say that for
me Eline Vere is one of the most
beautiful Dutch classics there is.
Published in 1888
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