Oeroeg

Oeroeg

First edition
Author	Hella Haasse
Language	Dutch
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Vereeniging ter Bevordering van de Belangen des Boekhandels
Publication date	1948
Publication place	Netherlands
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	79 (1st edition)
OCLC	8882899

Oeroeg (translated into English as "The Black Lake") is the first novel by Hella Haasse. First published anonymously in 1948, it has become one of the best-known Dutch novels and a staple of literary education for many Dutch schoolchildren. The novel, a Bildungsroman, is set in the former Dutch East Indies: the anonymous narrator grows up on a plantation in the Dutch colony of West Java, his childhood friend is a native boy of the same age. As the narrator grows up, he finds himself becoming estranged from his friend, as a result of the political and racial circumstances of colonial life. After having served in the army during World War II, he returns to his native land, only to be told that it is not where he belongs, and that he must leave.^[1]