Maria Dermoût [SEP] native language
Maria Dermoût
Maria Dermoût (15 June 1888 – 27 June 1962) was an Indo-European novelist, considered one of the greats of Dutch literature and as such an important proponent of Dutch Indies literature. In December 1958 "Time" magazine praised the translation of Maria Dermoût's "The Ten Thousand Things", and named it one of the best books of the year.
Whitney Balliett of "The New Yorker" wrote: ""Mrs. Dermout, in the manner of Thoreau and the early Hemingway,
about intense adventure in primitive circumstances, but also fearful hardship in the pre-World War II Indies. The book was inspired by her own experiences living in the South Moluccas and is sometimes compared to the writings of the great female Indo author Maria Dermoût, who also lived in the Moluccas. Vuyk herself was quite outspoken about what she considered a clear distinction between her own rugged experience and the more elite experience of Dermoût.
"”Much more than Maria Dermoût I have lived in the middle of the indigenous world.