Mata
hari in Malay/Indonesian language it means “Sun / Sol / Soleil”. It’s hard to
imagine an European woman would use this as her name. After so many years in SE
Asia, I never heard of any woman with such a name. After the first chapter, I
knew better why she got this name; apparently she was married to a general
stationed on Java Island which was then still a Dutch colony. In spite of the
big gap in their ages, the exotic life in a Far East country seemed more
attractive to her. However, the marriage didn’t last long, after the death of
her second child, she returned to Netherlands then she moved on to Paris to
start a new life.
The
period of time in which the story happened is during La Belle Époque. I believe
during that time France is the center of Europe. As an erotic star, Mata Hari
became famous by presenting the oriental dance which was novelty among the Parisian.
Even thought, some people see her as nothing more than a whore who strips naked
in public under an artistic pretense. There were many other dancers who
followed what she did after she gained her fame but for her, all the others was
shake their bodies grotesquely and take off their clothes without artfulness or
inspiration. At the same time, she had
many lovers who were in high ranking in the government or rich people who were
able to offer her the luxury in terms of housing and money.
Beauty
is not eternal and she was growing old, when she was thinking how she was going
to live the rest of her life. There was an offer from Berlin. She accepted it
and left Paris for Berlin in the hope that she could repeat the same success in
Paris. However, it was a wrong decision. A war broke out soon after that
between German and France, she fled to her hometown with the help of the agent
that brought her to German in the first place. Even though, she remained loyal
to France, she was then no choice but accepted the money given by a German
Consul and became a spy. At the same time, she tried to get in contact with the
French intelligence and attempted to tell them what happened on her. She contacted
a wrong person who desperately needed a scapegoat to keep his power and regain
his fame.
The
German intelligence set a trap to eliminate her after noticed that she was
possibly a double agent. The French also did the same. She became someone who
squeezed between two big power and none of her lovers wanted to get involved
due to her espionage. She was judged and convicted of what she didn’t do.
Without sufficient evidence, appealing was useless and soon, she was executed. She
ended her life in a way that was very different from what she expected. I
believe if she had been given a choice, she would have chosen to stay in
Netherland or other European countries instead of going back to Paris.
This
book is quite different from the other books of the author but nevertheless, it
remained one of most interesting books I have read and it actually inspired me
to find out more about the La Belle
Époque which was virtually unknown to me before I read this book. Looking
forward to the next book of the author.
(581
words)
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