ANANSI – advance notice

A month and a half remain before the Dutch edition of my new novel ANANSI will be published. The English edition will follow shortly afterwards.

 

There is no book that cost me so much effort as Anansi. When I was interviewed by a journalist of the local newspaper De Ware Tijd in Paramaribo last year, she asked me whether I wouldn’t romanticise the slavery period too much. A valid question. My reply was ‘don’t worry - I won’t mince words.’ And I didn’t, because I tried to write an honest story without trying to play down the horrors of the past.

Dilemmas and pitfalls

This puts us right in the middle of the dilemmas an author is confronted with when writing a story such as this. Anansi isn’t an history book, but an historical novel of a rebellious Dutch sailor and an enslaved woman, who feel irresistibly attracted to one another. I mainly wanted to write a good story, and in a novel to some extent the author can ignore reality. One wonders whether in the 17th Century an equal relationship could have existed with an enslaved woman. I think nothing can withstand true love, but it must have been very difficult socially. However, I found an answer to that in the book.

As an author, one must be honest in the choices made and do one’s homework. The truth about slavery history is difficult to determine, in part due to it being several centuries ago, and also due to the sensitivity of the subject and the heated debate it causes, with diametrically opposed opinions. The only way to learn your business is by doing your homework, and with tact and modesty it should be possible to avoid most of the pitfalls.

I admit I was a bit naive in this respect, having been under the illusion that in a novel about this theme, even though being careful with words, perhaps the word ‘slave’ would be permitted in the historical context. After all, the grande dame of Surinamese literature, Cynthia McLeod, uses it in her books herself!

I was in for a surprise though, being urgently advised to change the wording in my manuscript. So just before the deadline it took me two days to thoroughly weed out all the even remotely controversial words from the manuscript. I think I succeeded, and perhaps the book is better for it.

All the same, in hindsight I often wondered whether I should have written this book. But why not? I thoroughly investigated the history of slavery and drew my conclusions. The horror I felt in the slave dungeons of Elmina and Cape Coast, and at the historical drawings of the steerage of a slave ship and the cruelties on the plantations, and the many publications and historical travel diaries I read, that horror just cried out for release.

The forebears of many Surinamese people weren’t free like mine, unless they ran away from the plantation to lead a harsh life in the jungle. Their descendants feel strongly connected to them, a strong aspect of culture in their community. I can hardly imagine what it must be like, knowing your great-grandmother was the property of a businessman, who could abuse her or have her beaten to death with impunity.

To anyone who wishes to read of slavery, I can recommend We slaves of Suriname, the 1934 book written by Anton de Kom, the Surinamese author and Dutch WW2 resistance fighter, whose mother was born in slavery. He puts into words what is still being felt by many present-day countrymen of his.

According to R. S. Rattray, the West African folk tales of Anansi are told predominantly in the dark of night. They often carry a moral message, or make fun of important people. That is why the storyteller usually begins with the disclaimer of his tale merely being a rumour he or she picked up somewhere.

Like the storytellers of Anansi I cannot escape a disclaimer myself. During the scant months in which I studied Suriname, I can only have penetrated skin deep into the culture and history of that wonderful country. All I tried in my story was make a connection, and whether I succeeded, is up to you to judge when you read the book.

The English edition of Anansi will appear during the summer, in e-book and paperback format (Kindle/Amazon).