Van Moppes continues symphaty for Asian women<\/p>\n
Kunang Helmi-Picard
\nContributor
\nParis<\/p>\n
Tall and vivacious, the French writer Catherine van Moppes, is
\nof Russian and Dutch origin. With her long dark hair and oriental
\nfeatures, she is often mistaken for an Indian from the north of
\nthe subcontinent.<\/p>\n
Catherine's life and work revolve between Europe and Asia. She
\nhas just published a novel which takes place in France and in the
\nDutch East Indies.<\/p>\n
From her outward appearance, this passionate lady could also
\nbe mistaken for an 'Indo' girl in the Dutch East Indies, like the
\nheroine in her novel: \"Since I was very young, not only did I
\nlook different, I always felt different from the average French
\ngirl. I also lived in a world of books and wrote stories on my
\nown since I was little!\"<\/p>\n
Van Moppes never really knew her Dutch father and grew up
\nsurrounded by her Russian family in Paris. Her mother's family
\noriginated from around Tashkent which once belonged to the
\nsouthernmost part of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Driven by her early propensity to write, she continued, while
\nstill at school, by working for legendary artist Henri Langlois
\nwho headed the Francaise' - with its collection of milestone
\nfilms in Paris - and his wife Mary Meerson, a writer. As a
\nteenager her ambition was to become a script writer.<\/p>\n
Catherine soon began writing experimental scenarios nurtured
\nby encounters with film greats Orson Welles, Bunuel, Kurosawa and
\nmany others.<\/p>\n
Then Van Moppes left for the United States for an
\napprenticeship at the Cinematheque in New York. Back from the
\nU.S., her first book, d'Amerique, about her impressions there,
\nwas published by Albin Michel and she began writing for
\nmagazines. Soon the slim adventurous girl was off again, this
\ntime to China where she lived from 1965 to 1968.<\/p>\n
Van Moppes reported on the turbulent events there for
\nimportant French publications avid to hear about this largely
\nunknown country. Inevitably she wrote her second book Chacun sa
\nChine and participated in a television film La Chine au Coeur
\nRouge. It was in Beijing where she met the French diplomat and
\nsinologist whom she later married.<\/p>\n
Back in Paris as a journalist, it was not long before she left
\nagain for Asia. Catherine van Moppes arrived in Indonesia in the
\nearly 1970s when her son was only a few months old. Here in
\nJakarta, the writer was immediately submerged into the mainly
\nJavanese flavored atmosphere of Menteng when life was still slow
\nand friendly: \"I remember our house on Jl. Lembang very clearly,
\nall the different sounds of food-vendors on the street. How I
\nused to take the becak (pedicab) around the area to visit my
\nfriends and also converse with everybody on the streets.<\/p>\n
She and her husband took Indonesian lessons at the Parisian
\nOriental Language Institute and could thus fully appreciate the
\nIndonesians that they encountered from all walks of life.<\/p>\n
Her husband's career as a diplomat in Asia took them to Hanoi,
\nVientiane, Singapore, Taiwan and twice to Jakarta. In Hanoi
\nbetween 1976 to 1978, Van Moppes reported on the Vietnam just
\nrecovering from the long war and continued writing a mixture of
\npolitical fiction and short stories.<\/p>\n
While in Laos for five years, she wrote a book of poetry
\ncalled De Nager (Desire to swim). Later when her husband was
\nstationed in the Pacific, Van Moppes would often return to
\nJakarta for several weeks.<\/p>\n
All in all, Catherine van Moppes has spent almost 20 years in
\nAsia and continues to sympathize with Asian women. Regarding
\nIndonesia, she admires the independence of women there,
\nespecially in the 1980s: \"These women discreetly carried on their
\nprofessional careers while still being wonderful mothers and
\nelegant, attractive wives.\"<\/p>\n
Her curiosity about the past history of Asian women,
\nspecially those in the Dutch East Indies, was aroused, and she
\nbegan three years of serious research to prepare for her recently
\npublished novel Emilie, Java 1904. She is deeply impressed by
\nRaden Ayu Kartini and the egalitarian ideas of Abendanon about
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Van Moppes imagined a young French woman educated solely by
\nher progressive widower father in the countryside near Bordeaux,
\na cosmopolitan French harbor with many trade connections
\noverseas.<\/p>\n
Emilie meets a wealthy young French man, Lucien Bernieres,
\nwho is destined to travel to the Dutch East Indies as a colonial
\nadministrator and partake in the new and experimental Ethical
\nPolicy.<\/p>\n
Love, passion, women's rights, France and the discovery of a
\nparadise with its hitherto unknown sensuality are skillfully
\nbound together with the beginnings of Indonesian nationalism to
\ncreate an exciting novel.<\/p>\n
A sequel which is to take place in China is now being prepared
\nby Van Moppes. These two novels will not only mirror the fictive
\ndestiny of a young French woman, but also reflect the historical
\nbackground of Asia's political awakening in the early days of the
\n20th century.<\/p>\n
Those lucky enough to read French can order the book published
\nby Albin Michel in December 2002 from www.amazon.com. In the
\nmeantime Van Moppes' hopes are high for an English version of the
\nnovel. It would make for exciting reading for those who move
\nbetween East and West and also for those unfamiliar with Asian
\nhistory<\/p>",
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