«Essays on Dutch colonial classics, some well known, others hidden gems — I discovered Frans Lopulalan’s ‘Onder de sneeuw een Indisch graf ‘.» – Rosemarijn Hoefte

VoorplatSneeuw-75Over ‘Onder de sneeuw een Indisch graf’ van Frans Lopulalan in New West Indian Guide [nr.96], april 2022:
(…) ‘De nieuwe koloniale leeslijst’, edited by Rasit Elibol (Amsterdam: Das Mag, 2021, paper €21.99), consists of 22 essays by established authors, poets, and critics on how to (re)read, (re)discover, and rethink Dutch colonial classics. Some are well known, such as ‘Max Havelaar’ by Multatuli, others may be hidden gems—I discovered Frans Lopulalan’s ‘Onder de sneeuw een Indisch graf ‘ (1986) on Moluccan experiences in the Netherlands. Ten chapters cover nine novels and one volume of poetry on the Caribbean published between 1931 and 2018: ‘De Stille plantage’ by Albert Helman (Xandra Schutte), ‘Mijn zuster de n[egerin]’ by Cola Debrot (Stephan Sanders), ‘Sarnami, hai’ by Bea Vianen (Warda El-Kaddouri), ‘Dubbelspel’ by Frank Martinus Arion (Kees ’t Hart), ‘Kollektieve schuld’ by Edgar Cairo (Rasit Elibol), ‘Over de gekte van een vrouw’ by Astrid [H] Roemer (Basje Boer), ‘Schilden van leem’ by Boeli van Leeuwen (Yra van Dijk), ‘De morgen loeit weer aan’ by Tip Marugg (Michiel van Kempen), ‘Badal’ by Anil Ramdas (Manon Uphoff), and ‘Habitus ‘by Radna Fabias (Alfred Schaffer). Despite the (deliberately?) awkward title, this is a rewarding read.
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«Highlights Hindostani life and culture in Suriname, but also the importance of remembering.» – Rosemarijn Hoefte

VoorplatNarainMensenkindOver ‘Een mensenkind in niemandsland’ van Jit Narain in New West Indian Guide [nr.96], april 2022
(…) Rosemarijn Hoefte has kindly provided an overview of recent Dutch-language books that may be of interest to our readers. (… ) Michiel van Kempen & Effendi Ketwaru compiled an anthology of poems by Jit Narain (Djietnarainsingh Baldewsing), ‘Een mensenkind in niemandsland’ (Haarlem, the Netherlands: In de Knipscheer, 2020, paper € 19.50). Selected from ten volumes published between 1977 and 2019, the poems in Sarnámi-Hindostani and Dutch (with translations by the poet) highlight Hindostani life and culture in Suriname, but also the importance of remembering. “Poetry can’t heal what is broken, but it can keep the memory alive and express the longing for what used to be.”
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«Struggles from a dreamy teenager.» – Rosemarijn Hoefte

voorplatFluit1-75Over ‘Bāṉsuṟi ke gam: Het verdriet van de fluit’ van Saya Yasmine Amores in New West Indian Guide [nr.96], april 2022
(…) Rosemarijn Hoefte has kindly provided an overview of recent Dutch-language books that may be of interest to our readers. (… ) Saya Yasmine Amores’s ‘Bāṉsuṟi ke gam: Het verdriet van de fluit’ (Haarlem, the Netherlands: In de Knipscheer, 2020, paper € 17.50) came out about a year before her death in 2021. Previously known as Cándani, she was the first female poet who wrote in Sarnámi-Hindostani (1990). Her latest volume includes 35 poems in Sarnámi, with Dutch translations, from a dreamy teenager who, like Carla van Leeuwen in ‘Because en andere gedichten’, also struggles to belong in times of uncertainty and hardship.
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«Fantasy as the only escape.» – Rosemarijn Hoefte

VoorplatBecause-75Over ‘Because en andere gedichten’ van Carla van Leeuwen in New West Indian Guide [nr.96], april 2022
(…) Rosemarijn Hoefte has kindly provided an overview of recent Dutch-language books that may be of interest to our readers. (…) ‘Because’ is the 1979-debut volume of Carla van Leeuwen (1955–80). The current edition (Haarlem, the Netherlands: In de Knipscheer, 2021, paper € 17.50, with a brief epilogue by Klaas de Groot) presents poems (some in Dutch, some in English) from the original volume as well as 22 from an unpublished volume, “Interval,” and seven found in the Van Leeuwen family archive. One of the main themes is the difficulty, or even inability, of belonging, with fantasy as the only escape.
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«Aart G. Broek has now for the first time translated Medardo de Marchena’s important pamphlet into Dutch.» – Rosemarijn Hoefte

VoorplatMedardo-75Over ‘Medardo de Marchena: Staatsgevaarlijk in koloniaal Curaçao’ van Aart G. Broek in New West Indian Guide [nr.96], april 2022
(…) Rosemarijn Hoefte has kindly provided an overview of recent Dutch-language books that may be of interest to our readers. (…) Anton de Kom’s Surinamese perspective on the history of his country of birth was unique in Dutch colonial historiography, but his indictment of stifling Dutch colonial policy was not. Partially inspired by Marcus Garvey, Pedro Pablo Medardo de Marchena in 1929 wrote a fierce indictment in Papiamentu against racism and other humiliations suffered by people of color on account of the colonial state, the Roman Catholic Church, and big business on Curaçao, for which he was prosecuted and jailed. Aart G. Broek has now for the first time translated Medardo de Marchena’s important pamphlet into Dutch, with a lengthy introduction on its historical context as Medardo de Marchena: Staatsgevaarlijk in koloniaal Curaçao (Haarlem, the Netherlands: In de Knipscheer, 2021, paper € 17,50).
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