The Dutch Indies -- now Indonesia -- were the most prized among the Dutch colonies, and while the Dutch West Indies are an ongoing influence on Dutch art and literature, the influence of writers who had a connection with the Far East is fading.

In the mind of Dutch people, Louis Couperus is the great novelist associated with the Dutch Indies. However, this impression is somewhat incongruous with the facts. Couperus wasn't born there and only lived there in his childhood for about six years. Besides, Couperus wrote only one book which is directly connected to the colonial period, namely The Hidden Force. Therefore, Couperus experience of the Dutch Indies is mainly based on intuitive experience and hearsay.

P.A. Daum, on the other hand, moved to the Dutch Indies for work as a journalist at the age of 29 or 30 and lived there for about 10 years. His experience is much more that of life and work in the colonial society, observing life as it was.

Goena-goena. Een geschiedenis van stille kracht is a novel about the life of a Dutch family in the colony. The novel, which is only about 200 pages, seems an uneventful story, portraying a typical lifestyle of Dutch people in colonial society and in line with customs and norms of the mid- to late Nineteenth century. However, at a deeper level, this novel is connected with Couperus's novel De stille kracht (The Hidden Force, as these words also appear in the secondary title of the novel.

That socalled "stille kracht" (hidden force) is deemed to be a form of power of resistance that the local people exerted over the colonizers in order to repel them or drive them away. In the novel by Louis Couperus, it takes the form of a ghost and inexplicable magic, spreading fear. In the novel by Daum it is more subtle, but a very clear albeit apparent manifestation.

The novels of P.A. Daum often simply describe colonial family life, lacking very dramatic plot events. However, the end of the novels often end with an unexpected chute, a sudden realisation that puts the whole story on a slightly different footing. ( )