‘'A GOLDEN DROP OF BLOOD...' LOUIS COUPERUS' 'ROYAL NOVELS'’

22 May – 16 November 2008

In January 2008, Queen Beatrix became seventy years of age. In the not too distant future she will probably abdicate in favour of her son, Willem-Alexander. Two reasons why the Louis Couperus Museum mounts an exhibition around Couperus’ so-called ‘royal novels’, this summer. The exhibition focusses not so much on the literary content as on the relevant historical context of the novels.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century Couperus published two novels: Majesteit (Majesty; 1893), Wereldvrede (World Peace: 1895) and the novelette Hooge troeven (High Stakes, 1896). These ‘imperial novels’, as the author himself called them, run in the fictitious imperium of Liparia. Especially the first two enjoyed an instant success in Holland and abroad. During his lifetime, the ‘royal novels’, as they came to be known, were Couperus’ most popular, best sold and most translated books.

In Couperus’ days, there were roughly two ways of looking at the concept of monarchy: on the one hand, the idealistic view in which the monarch was an elevated character with ‘a golden drop of blood...’ in his veins, and on the other, the anarchist-socialist point of view which denounced the whole institution as an anachronism of feudal times that should be done away with as soon as possible. Both views feature in Couperus’ books. His emperor Othomar is not unlike contemporary heirs to the throne such as Rudolf van Habsburg, Nicolas Romanov and the Prince of Orange. Couperus’ monarchs believe in their ‘sacred’ mission, but Othomar does get shot by an anarchist during a performance of Verdi’s opera Aida.

Possibly the author used an album with genealogies of European royal houses that was in his family’s possession, and which will feature in the exhibition. Also on show are engravings in the international illustrated press of his time which prove how carefully Couperus documented himself. Cabinet photographs of the mentioned European royals give an insight into the world of late nineteenth century governing monarchs and their successors to the throne. Loans from the Royal House Archives and from Museum Palace het Loo place Couperus’ novels against the background of the Dutch monarchy of the period.

Finally, a selection of French ‘royal novels’ indicates that Couperus’ books fitted into a contemporary literary development. Rare editions and translations of Couperus’ novels and other documents from the Sine Qua Non collection – the private collection that has recently been aquired by the Literary Museum and the Royal Library – will be on show to the public for the first time. Also, the drawings by W.F.A.I. Vaarzon Morel for the third edition of Majesty will be on display.

Pieter de Josselin de Jong, Regalia, oils on canvas, ca. 1898. Collection Royal House Archives, The Hague.