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Het verboden rijk
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Wikipedia article
'Het verboden rijk' ("The forbidden kingdom") is a novel by Dutch author J. Slauerhoff (18981936). First published in 1931, the novel follows two narratives simultaneouslythat of the Portuguese poet Lus de Cames, and that of a 20th-century Irishman, a radio operator and sailor. A sequel, 'Het leven op aarde' ("Life on earth"), was published in 1933; a third book was planned but never finished.
Plot
The novel's prologue tells of Antonio Farria, the Portuguese governor of a colony in China. Farria's settlement is destroyed by the Chinese, for which he blames the government back in Portugal, who have neglected the colony. After taking revenge on a Chinese city Farria founds what will become Portuguese Macau, which was to act as a thorn in the side of the Portuguese but, in the end, remained loyal to Portugal. The narrative proper begins with a semi-historical account of Lus de Cames, the 16th-century Portuguese poet who wrote the epic poem 'Os Lusadas'. In Slauerhoff's novel, Cames flees Portugal after an affair with a woman destined to marry the Portuguese crown prince.Francken 1415.
In the meantime the government in Macau is challenged by a merchant, Pedro Velho, who seeks rapprochement with the Chinese. A clever ruse by the governor and his accomplices makes Velho leave the colony for the hinterland. Pilar, the daughter of governor Farria by a Chinese woman, flees a forced marriage and is thought to take refuge in a Dominican friary. Cames's ship is wrecked off the coast of Macau, and when he lands, still holding his epic poem, Cames ends up in the garden home of a ruined estate where he discovers Pilar. A vision of his Portuguese lover merges with the half-Chinese woman, who is living as a Chinese in the house of her former nurse. Pilar helps Cames recover his health, but when he leaves to investigate a fire (the governor had the monastery burned down) he is arrested.Francken 157.
The second strand, a first-person narrative, is of the 20th-century radio operator, a short, swarthy Irishman who thinks he is descended from a sailor stranded after the Spanish Armada. He remains nameless; in 'Het leven op aarde' he is called Cameron. His life spirals downward after a shipwreck. Addicted to drugs he takes again to the sea on a run-down cargo ship. The freedom offered at sea fails to satisfy him and he longs to be taken over by a higher power.Francken 17.
After torture, which he endures by taking narcotics, Cames is allowed to return to writing but in his poetry reveals Pilar's hiding place. He is punished by being sent on a trade mission to Beijing and on departure sees her again, now standing next to her intended husband. The mission is a fiasco, and Cames returns alone. He assaults a Chinese farmer and steals the man's clothes.Francken 18.
The radio operator's story continues: he finds himself in a garden home where he thinks he's been before. References abound linking Cames to the Irishman, who feels as if he is being taken over by another. Later, his ship is attacked near Hong Kong by pirates and the crew abducted and taken deep into China, where he finds clothes containing gold coins here, Cames and the Irishman merge.Francken 1819.
In the final chapter the Irishman, paying for passage to Macao with 16th-century gold coins, finds himself defending the church of old Macau with Dominican friars against an invading army. It turns out that Cames had returned from his expedition to save the settlement. Pilar gives Cames his poem back, but again he is exiled. Before the Irishman sets sail to Hong Kong, he trails the half-Chinese daughter of a Portuguese governor. He is despondent since he was unable to help or harbor the spirit of the other who sought refuge in him. His final plan is to go straight into China, from Shanghai.Francken 1920.
Textual history
The novel was first published serially in the literary magazine 'Forum', starting in the magazine's first issue, November 1931. The ninth issue of the magazine, September 1932, contained the last section, and by November 1932 'Het verboden rijk' was for sale in the bookstore (published by Nijgh & Van Ditmar), with minor corrections and one major excision. Following editions had more editorial changes, mostly minor.Francken 7374. The excision is a passage detailing an affair between the Cames character and the princess who is betrothed to the Portuguese crown prince.Francken 14, 8081.
In 1985, the contents of a "seaman's chest" full of notes pertaining to the two "Cameron novels", edited by W. Blok and Kees Lekkerkerker, was published by the Nederlands Letterkundig Museum en Documentatiecentrum. The manuscripts offer insight into the genesis of the novels and presents material related to the never-published third volume: Slauerhoff intended a trilogy.Blok and Lekkerkerker 56.
Importance for 'Forum'
'Forum' was the literary magazine founded and edited by Menno ter Braak, Edgar du Perron, and Maurice Roelants. Though it was published only from 1932 to 1935 its influence on Dutch literature was great. Of all fiction writers who published in the magazine, Slauerhoff contributed the largest number of pages (with Simon Vestdijk in second place); besides 'Het verboden rijk' and 'Het leven op aarde' he also contributed two short stories.Fleuren van Hal 5256.Criticism and legacy
Many contemporary reviews were negative. Martinus Nijhoff, writing for 'De Gids', recognized the motifs of some of Slauerhoff's "beautiful poems", but thought the novel was careless and confused.Nijhoff 346–47. Some critics, apparently expecting a traditional historical novel, were confused or appalled by the mixing of the two narratives; for at least one reviewer (Anton van Duinkerken) criticism of the novel's form was an extension of his critique of 'Forum', which was known for its formal experiments. Others (especially Roman Catholic reviewers) disagreed vehemently with what they saw as a kind of moral nihilism.Francken 7072. K. H. Heeroma saw the two protagonists as rejected by Western society and concluded that the novel was written in the spirit of vitalism. He said the novel was one of the most curious of the year, full of impossibilities and written carelessly, though written by an "original" author.Heeroma 45.
The novel did not fare better with readers than it did with critics; it was not reprinted until after the Second World War.Francken 71. The first reprint was in Slauerhoff's 1945 'Collected Works', edited by Kees Lekkerkerker; until 1976 it was reprinted six times, and once more in a 'Collected Prose' volume (1975).Francken 7374. It ranks as #119 in the Canon of Dutch Literature (Slauerhoff occupying #27 among authors).Stipriaan. It was translated into English by Paul Vincent as 'The Forbidden Kingdom', published by Pushkin Press.Nieuwenhuis.
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