Novel
Een beschavingswerk
Not translated into English
Richard O'Ferrall · 1923
Synopsis
The governor of Suriname wants to halt the decline of the Paloemeu Indians and to carry civilisation and the Gospel into the south-east of the colony. On the advice of a supposed expert on the Indians, De Slechte, it is decided to introduce plaiting, while the engineer Bergsluys draws up a railway line from which gold prospectors will also benefit. The doctor Bang-a-man sets out with his wife to found a hat workshop at the post of Wilhelmina'sgift; when the first Indian woman has plaited a hat, Mrs Bang-a-man receives a royal decoration, and honours begin to rain down.
Context
Announced for June 1923 and published by H. B. Heyde without the planned advertisements, perhaps because of its content, the book carries the pseudonym Ultimus, immediately followed by the author's name, and presents itself as a social, economic and political study in the form of a novel. It draws on the Lawa railway, begun in 1902 and halted in 1912 at Dam, far from its goal. The satire, discreet at first, reveals itself through an accumulation of absurdities: it targets the megalomania of the rulers, the condescension towards the Maroons and the Indians, the royal court and the civilising missions.
Who it is for
For those who enjoy colonial satire and the cold irony of a notable who knew at close quarters the administration he mocks.
Prizes and reception
So rare that the historian of Surinamese literature thought it useful to summarise its plot, it is its author's only novel.