Faded PortraitsA fictionalized memoir of family life in former colonial Dutch East Indies, Faded Portraits is the story of the once powerful DePaulys, and especially of Aunt Sophie, the matriarch, whose efforts to preserve the family heritage- the "purity" of the Dutch bloodline and culture- prove inevitably tragic. The forms to which aunt Sophie clings, and which she seeks to impose on her family, represent an arrogant blindness to the personal needs of others and to the cruelties of the colonial system, and underscore the struggles of displaced people who must accept the eclipse of their way of life. The book is reminiscent of the literature of the American South- of the novels of William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, John Crowne Ransom, Robert Penn Warren. That too was "colonial" literature, wistfully determined to record an era that was passing. |
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afternoon already anymore Aunt Christien Aunt Sophie Batavia became Buitenzorg called chair child course dark death dress Dubekart Dutch especially European everything eyes Faded Portraits father feeling felt flowers girls hair heard Holland imagine Indonesia Indonesian Java Javanese John kabaja kampong Kitty Kitty's knew Knol later laughed Lien light lived looked Malay marriage melatti memory Midin Mokko morning mother mountains Multatuli native never Nieuwenhuys night novel once Painan parents Pauly perhaps pusaka remember Rienkie rijsttafel Rijswijk Salemba Avenue sarong seemed Semarang servants sister slowly smell sometimes Sophie and Uncle Sophie's stayed story suddenly Sukabumi Sundanese T. S. Eliot talked Tanah Abang things tion Titi Tjen's Tjidané took totok trees Treves Uncle Alex Uncle Tjen veranda voice walked Walraven wanted Wickford Winny Winny's woman women word