Dekker, Eduard Douwes (1820–1887)

Dutch writer. He wrote the novel Max Havelaar (1860) and Minnebrieven/Love Letters (1861), fictional correspondence between the author, his wife, and his inspiration (Fancy). Miscellaneous essays, aphorisms, and comments are contained in his Ideën/Ideas (1862–77).

These included episodes of an unfinished novel, Woutertje Pieterse, setting the Quixotic dreams of his own childhood against the prosaic realities of Dutch city life. His radicalism aroused emotions that clouded any objective evaluation of his work until relatively recently.

Born in Amsterdam, Dekker became assistant resident in Lebak, Java, then a Dutch colony. Idealistic and oversensitive, he was unable to conform to the requirements of government service and resigned. In a matter of weeks he turned his jottings and papers into the novel Max Havelaar, satirizing the Dutch bourgeois and civil-service mentality and romanticizing his own role in the colonies.