Van Moppes continues symphaty for Asian women

Van Moppes continues symphaty for Asian women

Kunang Helmi-Picard
Contributor
Paris

Tall and vivacious, the French writer Catherine van Moppes, is
of Russian and Dutch origin. With her long dark hair and oriental
features, she is often mistaken for an Indian from the north of
the subcontinent.

Catherine's life and work revolve between Europe and Asia. She
has just published a novel which takes place in France and in the
Dutch East Indies.

From her outward appearance, this passionate lady could also
be mistaken for an 'Indo' girl in the Dutch East Indies, like the
heroine in her novel: "Since I was very young, not only did I
look different, I always felt different from the average French
girl. I also lived in a world of books and wrote stories on my
own since I was little!"

Van Moppes never really knew her Dutch father and grew up
surrounded by her Russian family in Paris. Her mother's family
originated from around Tashkent which once belonged to the
southernmost part of the Soviet Union.

Driven by her early propensity to write, she continued, while
still at school, by working for legendary artist Henri Langlois
who headed the Francaise' - with its collection of milestone
films in Paris - and his wife Mary Meerson, a writer. As a
teenager her ambition was to become a script writer.

Catherine soon began writing experimental scenarios nurtured
by encounters with film greats Orson Welles, Bunuel, Kurosawa and
many others.

Then Van Moppes left for the United States for an
apprenticeship at the Cinematheque in New York. Back from the
U.S., her first book, d'Amerique, about her impressions there,
was published by Albin Michel and she began writing for
magazines. Soon the slim adventurous girl was off again, this
time to China where she lived from 1965 to 1968.

Van Moppes reported on the turbulent events there for
important French publications avid to hear about this largely
unknown country. Inevitably she wrote her second book Chacun sa
Chine and participated in a television film La Chine au Coeur
Rouge. It was in Beijing where she met the French diplomat and
sinologist whom she later married.

Back in Paris as a journalist, it was not long before she left
again for Asia. Catherine van Moppes arrived in Indonesia in the
early 1970s when her son was only a few months old. Here in
Jakarta, the writer was immediately submerged into the mainly
Javanese flavored atmosphere of Menteng when life was still slow
and friendly: "I remember our house on Jl. Lembang very clearly,
all the different sounds of food-vendors on the street. How I
used to take the becak (pedicab) around the area to visit my
friends and also converse with everybody on the streets.

She and her husband took Indonesian lessons at the Parisian
Oriental Language Institute and could thus fully appreciate the
Indonesians that they encountered from all walks of life.

Her husband's career as a diplomat in Asia took them to Hanoi,
Vientiane, Singapore, Taiwan and twice to Jakarta. In Hanoi
between 1976 to 1978, Van Moppes reported on the Vietnam just
recovering from the long war and continued writing a mixture of
political fiction and short stories.

While in Laos for five years, she wrote a book of poetry
called De Nager (Desire to swim). Later when her husband was
stationed in the Pacific, Van Moppes would often return to
Jakarta for several weeks.

All in all, Catherine van Moppes has spent almost 20 years in
Asia and continues to sympathize with Asian women. Regarding
Indonesia, she admires the independence of women there,
especially in the 1980s: "These women discreetly carried on their
professional careers while still being wonderful mothers and
elegant, attractive wives."

Her curiosity about the past history of Asian women,
specially those in the Dutch East Indies, was aroused, and she
began three years of serious research to prepare for her recently
published novel Emilie, Java 1904. She is deeply impressed by
Raden Ayu Kartini and the egalitarian ideas of Abendanon about
education.

Van Moppes imagined a young French woman educated solely by
her progressive widower father in the countryside near Bordeaux,
a cosmopolitan French harbor with many trade connections
overseas.

Emilie meets a wealthy young French man, Lucien Bernieres,
who is destined to travel to the Dutch East Indies as a colonial
administrator and partake in the new and experimental Ethical
Policy.

Love, passion, women's rights, France and the discovery of a
paradise with its hitherto unknown sensuality are skillfully
bound together with the beginnings of Indonesian nationalism to
create an exciting novel.

A sequel which is to take place in China is now being prepared
by Van Moppes. These two novels will not only mirror the fictive
destiny of a young French woman, but also reflect the historical
background of Asia's political awakening in the early days of the
20th century.

Those lucky enough to read French can order the book published
by Albin Michel in December 2002 from www.amazon.com. In the
meantime Van Moppes' hopes are high for an English version of the
novel. It would make for exciting reading for those who move
between East and West and also for those unfamiliar with Asian
history