Word: anneliese
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Minke, Pramoedya Ananta Toer's young narrator and alter-ego in This Earth of Mankind, cannot get his mind off Annelies Mellema. He remembers the first time he saw her:
Toer writes through the dreams and explanations of Minke, describing the jealous fits of Annelies's brother Robert, the resolute pride of her mother the Nyai (a Dutchman's brilliant concubine), and the machete-swinging brute force of their bodyguard Darsam.
Annelies, often quiet amidst this turmoil, remains the pivot of the work, a living symbol of Indonesia. She's an enigmatic blend of Native and European influences, admired by all and destroyed by all, confused and enfeebled.
Annelies is Minke's dangerous obsession, just as Indonesia is Toer's.
Unfortunately, accessibility has its cost: often it seems that Minke and Annelies are 20th century characters, rather than products of the 19th century Javanese/Dutch world that Toer tries so hard to capture.