HAASSE, HELLA S.

born Feb. 2, 1918, Batavia, Dutch East Indies [now Jakarta, Indonesia] in full Hella Serafia Van Lelyveld-Haasse Dutch novelist noted for her innovative historical fiction. Haasse studied at the Amsterdam Toneelschool, a dramatic arts school, and published a volume of poetry, Stroomversnelling (Fast Current), in 1945. Her novel Het woud der verwachting (1949; In a Dark Wood Wandering) is about Charles d'Orlans, a French nobleman taken prisoner by the English in 1415. Giovanni Borgia, a 16th-century Italian aristocrat, is the subject of De scharlaken stad (1952; The Scarlet City), which is narrated with unusual shifts of perspective among characters. Born into the family that produced the debauched Lucrezia and brutal Cesare, and possibly the son of a pope, Giovanni seeks an identity apart from his infamous kin. Haasse revived the Marchioness of Merteuil (from Choderlos de Laclos' novel Les liaisons dangereuses) in Een gevaarlijke verhouding of Daal-en-Bergse brieven (1976; A Dangerous Liaison, or Letters from Daal-en-Berg). In novels about the Dutch aristocrat Charlotte-Sophie Bentinck, Onverenigbaarheid van karakter (1978; Incompatibility of Character) and De groten der aarde (1981; Great Figures of History), Haasse used a collage form, with authentic documents, to tell her story. Haasse also wrote the play Een draad in het donker (1963; A Thread in the Dark), based on the myth of Theseus and Ariadne, and autobiographical works, including Zelfportret als legkaart (1954; Self-Portrait as Jigsaw Puzzle).