Het verboden rijk
novel by J. Slauerhoff
Het verboden rijk ("The forbidden kingdom") is a novel by Dutch author J. Slauerhoff (1898–1936). First published in 1931, the novel follows two narratives simultaneously—that of the Portuguese poet Luís de Camões, and that of a 20th-century Irishman, a radio operator and sailor. A sequel, Het leven op aarde ("Life on earth"), was published in 1933; a third book was planned but never finished.
Plot
The novel's prologue tells of Antonio Farria, the Portuguese governor of a colony in China. Farria's settlement is destroyed by the Chinese, for which he blames the government back in Portugal, who have neglected the colony. After taking revenge on a Chinese city Farria founds what will become Portuguese Macau, which was to act as a thorn in the side of the Portuguese but, in the end, remained loyal to Portugal. The narrative proper begins with a semi-historical account of Luís de Camões, the 16th-century Portuguese poet who wrote the epic poem Os Lusíadas. In Slauerhoff's novel, Camões flees Portugal after an affair with a woman destined to marry the Portuguese crown prince.
In the meantime the government in Macau is challenged by a merchant, Pedro Velho, who seeks rapprochement with the Chinese. A clever ruse by the governor and his accomplices makes Velho leave the colony for the hinterland.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2310834. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1936, 1931 and 1933.
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This entry incorporates text from “Het verboden rijk” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.