Joel Weickgenant

The opening lines of the satirical novel “Max Havelaar” are so well-known in Dutch that even a relatively new arrival to the Netherlands, with scant knowledge of the country’s literary tradition, can recite them by memory: “Ik ben makelaar in koffie, en woon op de Lauriergracht, no. 37.” Translation: “I am a coffee broker, and live at No. 37 Lauriergracht.” A simple declarative statement to open up one of the first works in any language to bring an exploitative colonial system under moral scrutiny; the novel has since become a cornerstone of the literary tradition of the Netherlands. Eduard Douwes Dekker, or Multatuli as he is known, finished writing the book 150 years ago. This year, a couple of events mark that anniversary.

Perhaps most importantly, a new Dutch translation of the work, by Gijsbert Van Es, is on bookshelves, intended to bridge the gap between the 19th-century language used in the original publishing and the Dutch youth of today.

More accessible to those of us without a grounding in Dutch literature is an exhibition devoted to the novel at the University of Amsterdam’s Bijzondere Collecties special collection (129 Oude Turfmarkt). It runs through May 16.

The show places the book and its author in the context of the colonization process that had overtaken what is now Indonesia. Some of the rooms feature artifacts from 19th-century Indonesia (then called the Dutch East Indies), breathing life into the characters that inspired the writer. Alongside those are explanations of the history of Indonesia’s colonial period. Some of the juxtapositions combine eras: There is a profile of Prince Diponegoro, who led a bloody 19th-century rebellion, next to one devoted to Dekker’s wife.

There are plenty of drawings and etchings based on the characters — the fictional coffee broker and narrator, Batavus Droogstoppel, who sports mutton chops, a bowler hat and a smug smile — and press dispatches marking the sensation “Max Havelaar” caused when first released.

Though the displays and accompanying text are all in Dutch, the exhibition is a fascinating one for visitors: an invitation into the conscience of a former colonial power, still sifting through a murky past, via the pen of one of its most acclaimed writers.