Oeroeg

The Black Sea ( niederländ. Oeroeg ) is a novel by the Dutch author Hella Haasse ( Hélène Serafia Haasse ), which was first issued in 1948 as Boekenweekgeschenk.

Action

The novel is about the friendship between two boys in the Dutch East Indies, who come from different social backgrounds. One of the boys came from a Dutch entrepreneur from, the other is the son of a Mandoers ( Indonesian foreman ) who works in the company of his father, and is called Oeroeg. The novel is told from the perspective of the Dutch boy who has grown up in the meantime.

Oeroeg and the narrator are in their childhood friends. You make it despite the social differences, together to enjoy the youth. The father of the narrator does not appreciate this friendship. He is of the opinion that Dutch boys should not play with boys from the villages and would like that the narrator learns Dutch to go later in the school. On a trip to the Black Sea, where the father, the narrator himself, business partner and the father of Oeroeg are about to get an accident in which Oeroegs gives father dies - in an attempt to save the narrator from drowning. This results in major changes for the protagonists arise. So must Oeroegs family move out of the house of Mandoers and comes under in a rundown house, Oeroeg himself draws on the grounds of the narrator and attended a school for Javanese. Shortly after the tour leaves the mother of the narrator 's father and travels to Europe. The narrator develops feelings of guilt.

After the narrator and Oeroeg have completed the first school and is the father for a long time on a business trip, both move to another place. The narrator goes to a boarding school, he wants to be an engineer later. Oeroeg lives in Lida, a Dutch nurse who performs a pension in the Dutch East Indies. He goes to a school for half the low countries and wants to be a doctor and later to emigrate to America.

More and more often the difference between Oeroeg and the narrator becomes clear. Although Oereog tries to behave like a European, he is often excluded and raised by the schoolmates of the narrator. Oeroeg also comes to the boarding school. He develops into a nationalist. When adopting the first-person narrator - he wants the Netherlands to study there - there is a heated argument between Oeroeg, Abdoellah and the narrator. Abdollah, a friend Oeroegs, and Oeroeg throw the narrator different things in terms of discrimination. The narrator realizes that an impassable gulf between Oeroeg and located him.

While he studied in the Netherlands, many things change. The Second World War, with the invasion of the Japanese in Indonesia and the subsequent declaration of independence, followed by a war between the Netherlands and the nationalists to Indonesia. Here dies the father of the narrator. Despite dangers, the narrator wants to return to Indonesia. There he goes first with soldiers to his old home from which not much is left.

He goes to the black lake. There he threatened a Javanese, these commands to disappear the narrator. The narrator believes to recognize in the Javanese Oeroeg, however, is uncertain. As can be heard in the background soldiers, fleeing the Javanese. The narrator is left with the uncertainty whether it was really Oeroeg. He realizes that he has lost the ability to recognize Oeroeg. He also noted that Oeroeg is like the black lake - he only recognizes the reflecting surface, but can not see inside.

Filming

The novel was filmed in the 90s in the Netherlands. This is not about trying to take over the novel as accurately as possible. It is, rather, a further narrative of the novel, by which history is reconstructed by memories of individuals. It is missing some characters and some new ones are introduced. Also in the film is clearly assumed that the first-person narrator, says in the film that John does not see Oeroeg the lake, because this is in the film at that time in prison.