Louis Couperus

Psyche (Dodo Press) Louis Couperus

Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (1863-1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet of the late 19th and early 20th century. He is usually considered one of the foremost figures in Dutch literature. He came to fame with the publication of his first novel Eline Vere (1888), a naturalist work influenced by French novelists like Emile Zola and Gustave Flaubert. His 1891 novel Noodlot (Footsteps of Fate) was much admired by Oscar Wilde, and many have noted stylistic similarities between Noodlot and Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Couperus attained popularity with his novels Majesteit (Majesty, 1893) and Wereldvrede (World Peace, 1895), both set among royals in modern Europe, threatened with anarchism. Also his fairy tale Psyche (1898) has often been reprinted. His other works include: De Stille Kracht (The Hidden Force, 1900), Berg van Licht (The Mountain of Light, 1906), De Boeken der Kleine Zielen (The Books of the Small Souls, 1901-1902) and Van Oude Menschen, de Dingen, die Voorbij gaan... (Old People and the Things that Pass, 1906).