Originally published in Dutch in 2009 as ‘Het hiernamaals van Doña Lisa’, The Life Everlasting of Doña Lisa (2024) is a hard-boiled, minimalist, postmodern novel about the perennial problems of postcolonialism. This is a tale of a failed attempt to escape Trinta di Mei, the postcolonial revolt of May 30, 1969, on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. Edgar Raven, nicknamed Boyo, the central character, makes the fateful decision to abandon Curaçao temporarily during these chaotic events. He leaves behind the burned_out husk of his home and dental practice with nothing more than some cash in his pocket and a few essentials, bringing with him his two closest friends, Kai, a fisherman, and JonJon, a retired marine engineer now paralyzed and condemned to a wheelchair. Together they travel to Venezuela for a “little vacation” and to buy a new fishing boat. This choice unleashes an avalanche of consequences, described in a narrative style that seems like a digressive festival of ideas and philosophies, intellectual duets and arias, stitched together with the clipped and brutal realism of the narration. But the plot leaves Boyo in the company of Sophoclean tragic figures, as close to oblivion as one can come without giving in to it entirely.
A major new contribution to ‘Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean’, and a landmark translation, ‘The Life Everlasting of Doña Lisa’ will appeal to readers interested in the history of the Caribbean, lovers of postmodernist literature, and those teaching courses on Caribbean and postcolonial literature.
“This publication’s aim is to continue offering foundational Dutch Caribbean texts to English-speaking audiences. In the past, the editors have reinvigorated readings of Cola Debrot’s ‘My Black Sister’, Boeli van Leeuwen’s ‘A Stranger on Earth’, Carel de Haseth’s ‘Slave and Master’, and Diana Lebacs’ ‘The Longest Month’. In translating Eric de Brabander’s ‘The Life Everlasting of Doña Lisa’ to English for the first time, Olga Rojer and Joseph Aimone shed light on a pivotal decolonial moment in Curaçaoan history: the 1969 Trinta di Mei uprising. The work is a valuable addition to course syllabi and individual research.”
—Dr. Daniel Arbino, Jay I. Kislak Chair and Curator, University of Miami Libraries
Curaçaoan author and essayist Eric de Brabander has written seven novels and two short story collections in Dutch. De Brabander has received international recognition for his books. ‘The Life Everlasting of Doña Lisa’ is his debut novel. Olga E. Rojer, PhD, is associate professor emerita of German and Dutch Caribbean Studies at American University in Washington DC. ‘The Life Everlasting of Doña Lisa’ is her fourth translated volume in the Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean series published by Peter Lang. Joseph O. Aimone, PhD, collaborated with Olga E. Rojer on the Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean series, including this volume.
Meer over ‘Het hiernamaals van Doña Lisa’ en Eric de Brabander
Meer over Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean
Meer over Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean op deze site
This satirical novel is set in the heady atmosphere of carnival on the tropical Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao, where the contradictions of postcolonial existence come to a boil that is furious, often bitingly funny, and sometimes almost intolerably tragic. And through it all, the story manages by way of a genuinely African derived rhythm to offer a message of hope. The heroine of the novel is Bir, a woman in her late sixties, the mama grandi with her ancient wisdom, a solid root of the community, dispensing medicinal herbs, advice, and motherly love. The flavor of the island is unmistakable: it is an authentic Curaçaoan story by noted Curaçaoan author Diana Lebacs. Not only is it Curaçaoan in its subject matter but in the way the story is told. It is serious but full of humor, from gentle irony to slapstick, with a lot of social satire in between. Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean: Diana Lebacs’ The Longest Month (‘De langste maand’), originally written in Dutch, is suitable for courses on Caribbean and postcolonial literature, women’s writing, and for readers of fiction in general.
Eric de Brabander