Chapters 1-4: 0:00—Dutch rule. 6:08—Narrative structure and theme. 7:50—Dusk in Labuwangi. 17:25—Couperus & Conrad. 18:46—Imperial twilight. 21:16—Doddy, Theo & Otto Van Oudijck. 22:36—The creamy Leonie. 26:40—The lovely Léonie. 28:12—The dreamy Léonie. 30:18—Silent, correct depravity. 33:21—Terror & taunting. 35:35—Interlude.

Chapters 5-6: 36:30—Van Oudijck’s delight & regret. 40:20—Behind the velvety banyans. 41:40—Profound dissonance. 43:33—Chinatown. 50:00—The hidden force. 51:18—Interlude

Chapters 7-8: 52:08—Eva’s Orient. 54:11—Confronting Sunario. 56:00—European Eva. 58:15—Racial identities. 1:03:55—Dutch exhibitionism. 1:13:53—Bewitched Debussy. 1:15:33—Balzac’s Java. 1:19:54—Interlude.

Chapters 9-10: 1:20:44—The problem with the regent. 1:25:25: Something new & something menacing. 1:27:29—Table turning. 1:30:04—The truth of spiritualism. 1:34:19—Table talk. 1:36:32—An exhausted colony. 1:39:35—Melancholic Eva. 1:40:42—Closing.

Text: Louis Couperus, The Hidden Force. Translated by Alexander Texeira de Mattos; revised and edited by E.M. Beekman. Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1985.

Interludes: Claude Debussy, Estampes, “Pagodes” (1903), Audiartist.com / soundcloud.com.

Additional music: Javanese gamelan, performed by the Yogyakarta Gamelan Ensemble, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C., November 1, 2013.

Sound effects: Pixabay.

Illustration: Portrait of Louis Couperus, by H.J. Haverman, 1897, Wikipedia.

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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com