BBP
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BBP vs Max Havelaar
Since it worked so well on Wuthering Heights (in that I finished the book), I thought I'd keep a reading diary on a book I should have read.
Of course it's the quintessential work in Dutch literature, the book all the class had to read: Max Havelaar, of de koffieveilingen der
Nederlandse Handelsmaatschappij by Multatuli, pseudonym of Eduard Douwes Dekker.
For the historical importance of this masterpiece I'd like to refer you to your favourite literature encyclopedia.
Max Havelaar is the book every Dutchman should have read. But who has read it?
It's the book we were all supposed to read, but "if you only read this bit and this bit, that would be OK," according to my Dutch teacher, who did
read the first chapter to us.
A colleague and friend has named her daughter Adinda, after one of the characters in the book - and was chuffed to be asked by her daughter's Dutch
teacher why she was called Adinda.
This marks my third attempt in reading Max: the first was in school. But today I found by chance when the second reading attempt was. I was reading it
while waiting at the dentist today, when I found the dentist appointment card of 2016 between its pages.
It's between you and me, Max!
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BBP
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Let's start with the motto - the play that was the origin for the saying "Barbertje moet hangen", or Barbertje must hang.
The prosecutor claims Lothario murdered Barbertje by cutting her to pieces and pickling her.
Lothario defends himself by saying he didn't do it, instead he took good care of her.
The judge is aggravated by it, saying Lothario committed three capital crimes: murdering Barbertje, pickling her, and haughtiness.
Then Barbertje shows up. She says Lothario took good care of her.
The judge drops the murder and pickling charges - but still has Lothario executed - for haughtiness.
The saying "Barbertje moet hangen" means that once an opinion is formed, no wild horses can drag it out.
As such the saying is a beautiful illustration of itself - since it's not Barbertje who must hang, but Lothario.
Let's start with Chapter 1!
Max Havelaar is famous for being "written" by several of its characters, so the chapter's style is dictated by its author.
The author of Chapter 1 is Batavus Droogstoppel:
| Quote: |
Chapter 1
I am a coffee merchant, and live in Lauriergracht, number 37.
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I love the boldness of starting a book with I, don't you?
The whole first chapter is a character exposition of Batavus - who is continuously talking about himself. The word "I" is used 21 times on the first
page. He continually reminds us of his profession and address - and his principles.
Droogstoppel hates liars - and with liars he includes any author of fiction - starting with a jab at author of moralist children's poems Hiëronymus
van Alphen, past general tropes about Dutch history and love, culminating in a complete bashing of theatre. All lies!
After ranting on the "lie" that servitude gets rewarded, he relates of Lukas, their former employee, who was very industrious, honest, didn't drink,
visited the church and assisted the business he could - and now he's old and not able to work - he doesn't have anything. "Well, I consider that Lucas
to be very virtuous, but is he being rewarded? Does a prince visit him to give him diamonds, or a fairy that makes his sandwiches? Absolutely not. He
is poor, and stays poor, and it should be this way."
It is a concept that has always befuddled me a bit - the Christian idea that God made some people rich, and others poor. Because.
At any rate, Droogstoppel bids us adieu and we hear him again in chapter 2.
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BBP
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The second chapter of Max is also "written" by Batavus Droogstoppel, coffee merchant on 37 Lauriergracht. In his haughty style, which, as intentional
as it is, makes it hard to read (now that increased experience with actual people who spend more time voicing their opinion than I'm inclined to
listen to).
Batavus is back from the stock exchange and relates how his competitors tried to take away one of his good clients, Stern - upon which, he wrote those
clients a letter offering their son a position with them and a stay in their household, so the young Stern could learn the language and increase his
skills. In the letter he often injects with "Tis the pure truth!"...
| Quote: | ... that the expansion {of business} made it necessary to increase the staff...
Tis the truth! Why even last night the accountant was still in the office after eleven, to look for his glasses.
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As he was out on a walk some time ago, Droogstoppel was out on the street looking in a grocer's "because I always attention to everything", he noticed
a familiar gentleman, who is not wearing a decent wintercode, but a type of shawl over his shoulder. He turns out to be an old acquaintance - saved
him from an infuriated Greek merchant after Droogstoppel unsuccessfully made a pass at his daughter. Droogstoppel tries to shake him off since he
looks poor, which takes him considerable effort.
If only he hadn't given him his calling card!
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Starting with chapter 3, also written by the highly egotistical Droogstoppel, explains the how and the why of the book.
Scarfman has sent Droogstoppel a package and a letter. Droogstoppel copies the letter in this chapter adding interjections everywhere he can. Scarfman
is in need of money and turns to his old acquaintance for help to finance his first book.
'Course he couldn't have come to a worse person - Droogstoppel spent the whole first chapter ranting about dislike towards untruths to the point he
cannot appreciate the arts. But when our coffee merchant pays visit to the sugar merchant, his son makes their daughter cry. By reading one of
Scarfman's poems.
The chapter ends with the inclusion of the poem, of which Droogstoppel says:
"Then Frits recited a thing that was cohered by nonsense. No, there was no coherence. A young man writes his mother that he had been in love, and that
his girl had married someone else - she was right there, I think - that he, in spite of this, always loved his mother very much. Are these last three
lines clear or not? Do you think that much ado is necessary to say that? Well, I made a cheese bun, then peeled two pears and was over halfway eating
the third, before Frits was done with that recital."
I wish more authors would summarize themselves in their work. Tolkien did that at points where Lord Of The Rings is dragging on, which was a big
help.
At any rate,
Chapter 4 is also delightfully easily summarized, and for now the last one that's written by Droogstoppel.
Our coffee merchant leaves through the passage of Scarfman's writings and sees, aside from poems, a lot of essays and articles - one about coffee
finally interests him.
And what follows is a 5 page listing of all the diverse topics that Sjaalman wrote articles on - about probability, the origin of nobility, the book
of Job, proteïne in atmospheric air, you name it. Droogstoppel briefly considers hiring him as replacement clerk.
The package doesn't contain Scarfman's address, but Frits and the young Stern find him working as an assistant in a bookstore - where he gets fired
because he dropped some magazines. Droogstoppel writes how important he feels the article on coffee is - he has to write the book.
Stern is making progress at Dutch. He's even translated some of the German poems by Scarfman into Dutch - topsy-turvy world, Droogstoppel complains:
the Dutchman writes in German and the German translates back into Dutch, what a lot of work would be saved if everybody wrote in their own
language.
Hey wait a minute!
Droogstoppel visits Scarfman to discuss the book - he finds that Scarfman is incredibly poor. He decides to put the work of translating and editing
the words in Stern's hands.
And there you have it: the first four chapters serve as introduction to this self-centered individual and how he got to write a book.
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BBP
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After chapter 4, the narrator switches - for the next few chapters, story is in universe written by Scarfman, is edited by the young Stern and finally
published by Droogstoppel.
I have found that an English translation of this masterpiece of literature that nobody has read, is on Wikisource, so I'll post the link and quote it
when necessary - but I must stress I read the original Dutch / Javan / Malay with French and German content.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Max_Havelaar
The chapter division between this and my Max copy is different, and it'll be instrumental in translating the various functions the characters have:
apparently our early narrator Droogstoppel is a coffee broker.
There was a bit of time between my last entry and this - I had saved the book for my train trip to my boyfriend, but that trip got delayed. Still I
got so much reading done, I'm excited, I never got this far!
At any rate, the giggle stops for a moment with:
Chapter 5.
"In the morning at ten there was an unusual commotion on the main road which leads from the department Pandeglang to Lebak."
(description of the road that lasts more than a page)
"I do not have the intention, while my story has just begun, to bore the reader with a description of places, countries or buildings."
(description of how this side steps can leave readers in so much suspense they give up)
(philosophical musing on towers)
"One morning there was an unusual commotion on the boundary between Lebak and Pandeglang. Hundreds of horses in harness covered the road and at least
a thousand people – a lot for that place – were eagerly waiting and walking to and fro."
Finally!
What were they doing?
Well, the new Assistant Resident arrives at the scene.
(explanation how these people are received)
(explanation on how the governmental structure of the east indies worked)
Oh wait that's important, let me try to summarize that:
there are tribes that accept sovereignity of the Dutch, but that still retain direct control in the hands of the native chiefs,
and there's Java, which is directly subject to Dutch government.
Java is reigned by the Governor-General.
There is a council, but that's advisory.
The branches of government are ruled by Directors, who answer to the Governor-General.
Residents (Regents) are local governors
Every residency has three to five departments, that are all overseen by Assistant-residents.
So the chain goes King - Governor General - Director - Resident - Assistant Resident. I hope I understood that well.
(musing on the history of nobility for two pages)
(musing on the roles Regent and Assistant Regent for two pages)
The Javan heads are being paid by the Dutch government, plus they are allowed to use the labour and goods of the peasants arbitrarily.
Since it is the Dutch government that decides what crop should be grown, punishes the Javans for selling their crops to anyone else, and deciding the
price, the Javanese peasants get dreadfully underpaid - plus often "claimed", both in terms of labour and in terms of their scarce possessions, by
their Javanese regents.
Assistant-residents are there to protect the peasants and to oversee their welfare - they take an oath to that end - but find that the oath cannot be
fulfilled, there's no way to keep a Regent in check.
That was one chapter of "my" Max, and three chapters of Wikisource's Max.
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I curiously find the English translation, which is more in line with how people would speak today, much easier to read than the original Dutch.
Chapter 6 opens with the introduction of a new character.
Controller Verbrugge is straight away described as a good man, followed by a string of adjectives that display that Multatuli wasn't of the "show,
don't tell" school. He is anxiously awaiting the new assistant-resident, along with the Regent of Lebak, who is described as civilized in a lot more
words. They are given a box of apparent smoke-wear, and as they're waiting for the assistant resident, the first lieutenant Duclari comes by. They
talk somewhat about the new assistant resident - a loon who jumped into the water to save a dog from sharks, who made a bawdy rhime, who stole the
general's turkey, and who fought hundreds of duels - mainly for other people.
Then of how his age doesn't show
(page musing of philosophy of aging)
Havelaar has been through a lot, along with Multatuli (Dekker chose a Latin pseudonym that means "I've suffered a lot): "He had been in shipwrecks,
more than once. There were fires, uproar, assassination, war, duels, wealth, poverty, hunger, cholera, love and "loves" in his diary. He had visited
many countries, he had met people of all races and all levels of society, morals, prejudices, religion and skin colour. "
He could play with children as if he were a child, and complained about how his son was still too young to fly a kite because he loved that. He plays
hopfrog with the boys and embroiders with the girls. He chants with the students and trashed a racist sign board in a drunken stupor.
Oh and he helps the babboe (nanny?) out of the carriage. Well, she's a servant, and that's about all Multatuli tells us about her.
Two chapters of Wikisource and one chapter of "my" Max later, we finally know what our titular hero is doing!
And then the carriage arrives...
(eloquent rant about the inconvenience of carriages)
Two pages later, the travellers get out of a gar - a gentleman walking with a calmth and care, pale witht a slightly large nose. He helps a lady out
of the cart and then gets a blonde three-year-old boy out of there, and join the controller and Regent under the Pendoppo. Which is a type of
provisoric roof.
(discourse on the author's annoyance with attempts at humour in literature)
(apologizes for having to add something in his own work)
The resident of Bantam has the habit of speaking in such a slow manner with long pauses between words, that he frequently gets interrupted or
misunderstood in haste. Multatuli illustrated this in writing by starting. Every. Word. In. A. Phrase. With. A. Capital. Then. Ending. With. A.
Period.
Ah, finally, we're introduced by name to the assistant-resident: Max Havelaar, titular hero of the book and alter ego of Multatuli, Max's wife Tine
and son Max. A wife who is not pretty (indeed Multatuli begins with that), but with a pure sole and devotion to her Max.
Havelaar is 35, blonde, blue eyes, something dreamy when calm in his eyes, which becomes fierce when he gets angry. Very clever and sharp, but also
naive..
He has a sense of righeousness that makes him drop his immediate duty when he feels the need to find an injustice.
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Chapter 7 has just started, describing the meeting between the resident of Bantam, the Regent, the controller and Havelaar.Havelaar directly offers
the elderly Regent a seat in the cart, since they're still a way away from Lebak and Max's new home that came with the job.
In the little pendoppo, Max asks clever and poignant questions about the situation in Lebak - the amount of inhabitants doesn't increase much, low
land income, and people flee from Lebak to surrounding counties.
The wagon gets refreshed horses and the group nestles in it.
On the way they talk about Mrs Slotering, the wife of the former late assistant-resident. She won't be able to travel for a few months and Havelaar
and his wife have kindly and without a trace of doubt, accepted that Mrs Slotering stays in the Assistant Resident's residence. The estate is big
enough. The resident, who. Speaks. Like. This. mentions he'd recommend against having Mrs Slotering in the same house, since she is an inlander. This
makes no difference to Havelaar and his inland wife.
The doubt since she was inland is explained - although legally Europeans who are fully born in Europe, have the same rights as people who have
Indonesian blood, there is a strong division between them - the author hurries to add that this separation doesn't in the slightest has the "barbaric
character" that is seen in America, he finds injustice in this separation. He can explain this as nothing new - how it's in the nature of a conquering
force to have even the lowliest in their own ranks classed above the noblest of the conquered area.
ooh! I spotted another joke! You had us there, Eddie, with your "don't want to resort to the burlesque." Here you speak of the native Dutchman who
mocks the speech of an inlander who hasn't mastered the difference between G (like CH in Loch) and H, and laughs at him when he doesn't know the
difference between a "gouden hek" (gold fence") and a "houten gek" (wooden madman).
The English translation from WikiSource, which is of course open-source, has left out multiple words. Easier to read, but you'll miss the jokes.
The company arrives at the new Havelaar residence, and decide to make haste with the initiation ceremony, that will be held in half an hour - the
resident and Havelaar quickly change into their official garments and go to the Regent's residence, received with music and with the many heads.
Havelaar takes his oath, to "protect the native people against exploiting and suppression". And then there's speech and hand shaking.
Remember hand shakes?
The resident, Regent and commander are all positive about Havelaar and expect he will be promoted soon.
Max and Tine have finally come from Europe, tired of their "suitcase life:", having wondered around. Before they went to Europe, Havelaar was
assistant-resident in Ambonia, where he had a lot of difficulties that he managed to suppress, but he had gotten sick from being annoyed with not
getting any support, and he went to Europe. Although in Ambonia he had a better job since that region makes more, he settled for less.
And he needs the money - he left behind debts in Europe and the boat trip needs to be paid - since he spends anything he has. To himself and his kin
he's a thrifter but to the others - when he sees injustice is being done he'll directly support them, even if he or his wife need it more. Eight days
before his boy was born he didn't even have a cradle.
At least there are already 3 people to like in this novel - 3 more likeable people than in Wuthering Heights.
More examples of Max's generosity are given, how he bought free an enslaved family, how he took home a prostitute, fed and homed her, and then sent
her off not to sin anymore without doing that what people normally pay prostitutes for. Tine is so devoted to her Max that she agrees to everything,
and considers him a noble genius.
Tine lost her parents young and got a little money when she married - but there was all suspicion that she would have been rich if there hadnt been
dome malafde people dealing with it. But Havelaar didn't pursue - somehow because it's his wife, it would be in his own best interest if he did, and
that's why he couldn't bring himself to do it. But Max and Tine are very happy in their new home and full of faith in the future.
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BBP
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Im currently in chapter 16 of my Max, but I will start on writing about chapter 8 today - I need to speed up!  I'm currently here:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Max_Havelaar/13
Anyways, chapter 8 is the big one, with Havelaar;s speech addressed to the Regent and the heads of the areas. His eloquence is pointed out in the
section before the speech starts. In his speech he describes the blessed are the poor thing - Lebak is poor and many of its inhabitants leave.
After two pages of speech the author again spends pages on saying how eloquent Havelaar is - one of his old poems is shoehorned in but Havelaar
doesn't like his own poetry.
Then some more he's so eloquent, and then finally the speech picks up. Two pages are summarized as "I will treat you justly".
Havelaar tries to summon his boy Max, but Max won't hear of it and keeps playing.
After the speech the Regent asks for taxes that are owed - Havelaar has them paid straight away, although his account is still under investigation.
Verbrugge protests, but Havelaar grills them over the abuse of authority in Lebak.He sums up all that he found has been going amiss - the previous
assistant-resident Mr Slotering was toothless at the abuse by the Regent's family.
I'll cut it short here, so back here tomorrow for chapter 9.
You can find Wiki's attempt at translation (which doesn't nearly do justice to the style of the book - but it's much more readable)
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"I should pick up the pace, or else I can never continue this book."
(procrastinates writing for a week)
Chapter nine is the chapter where we get muddled, since at the beginning it is clearly Stern's interpretation of Scarfman's book, but towards the end
it is definitely Droogstoppel talking. The wiki version cut this chapter in 2, starting off at musings and ends with a quote of Blankaert.
Then Droogstoppel takes the pen again. "Who's Blankaert?" Dutch novel character.
This all confused me a bit - changing speaker just like that, but I understood from Wikipedia that Multatuli didn't initially include any chapter
indication, which would make this book even more confusing.
Droogstoppel strongly disproves of Stern's work so far, and most appallingly, his friends the Rosenbergs love it.All he wanted was a book about
coffee, nothing but coffee, so he writes a few chapters to give us a sense of quality.
Droogstoppel doesn't approve that no coffee is grown in Lebak due to not the right soil - he suggests that either the soil is changed, or all people
are moved to other parts of Java where coffee can grow.
He then preaches to his son, Frits, who is also affected by "that Trojan horse of a Scarfman package".
Page and a half of religious admonishing.
Pages of "sermon excerpt".
To summarize - Droogstoppel considers the Javans heathens - and in the sermon he quoes, he stresses the part where the preacher said "it's our
Christian duty to bring the Javans closer to God by labour."
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BBP
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Chapter 10 in my book, woohoo!
Again Droogstoppel is speaking. He tries to bring the young Stern back on the "straight and narrow" by berating him via reviewing a poem from Heine
that Stern recites. Which he considers nonsense, in his usual self-righteous way.
Here it is in English, for your entertainment:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Max_Havelaar/17
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Speeding up, or I try, with continuing Sterns story who was quoting Blankaart.
We get to know Max a bit better, who still has the controller Verbrugge and lieutenant Duclari over. He's a tad absent-minded because overly focused
in his work, and he's keen on literature and into what was considered healthy food at the time (Liebig). His love for human beauty and distaste to
guides, with an en passant cosery on the beheading of Maria Stuart.
And how beautiful the women of Arles are, and how awful it was when he saw one blow her nose.
He relates to hs guests of the 13-year-old daughter of an inland chief - and recites a poem he wrote, but he forgot the second half.
Tine brings him back to his point (this book needs more Tine, much much more Tine), which still takes him one page (as I said, we need more Tine) -
Max tries his best to talk to the girl - but asking if she likes the trip her answer is "if my father chooses."
He relates the story of the Japanese stone cutter by Jeronimus: a stone cutter who wishes he was rich so he could rest on a bed, and an angel came
from heaven to give him this. And he has his bed, then he sees the king drive by with a parasol, and he wishes he was a king, and angel came down, and
again... The envy of the next in line turns to the sun, the clouds, the rock - and then the rock cutter.
With this parable told, he ask the girl "what would you choose if an angel would come down from heaven to give you what you'd want>"
"I'd pray he takes me to heaven."
The guests found it a weird story too.
All said, it's an interesting parable to me since it parallels the Dutch folk tale of the "quest", the boy who wants to chase a runaway pig back home,
and first asks the stick, but the stick won't help him, and then he asks the fire to burn the stick so the stick will help, but the fire won't, and
then he asks the water, then the cow, then something , then the mouse, then the cat, and the cat will do it for a bit of mil, so the cat chases the
mouse, and then something to the cow to the water to the fire to the stick to the pig,
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Chapter 12 - the dinner is over, but there's not much of a dessert, so to follow the guests have the choice between either a story, or an omelette.
Which used to be made with sugar, apparently.
Havelaar was suspended in Padang because of a budget deficit in Natal but possibly over the theft of a turkey, but over the next few chapters Max sets
the story. And elaborates, then gets distracted, is pulled back on track and immediately strays away again.
Anyway... in Padang where was all sorts of scandal - a young woman had given birth to a child that had gone missing. The assistant-resident of Padang
was tasked with researching the case, the controller had been suspended. When the assistant-resident's case report cleared the controller, the former
also got suspended.
Max wrote an epigram about it - how the governor would have gladly suspended his conscience if he hadn't fired it already.
And then we too learn that this assistant-resident was Max. Due to his suspention he spent nine months in poverty - he stole a turkey from the general
once, but mainly wrote in order to survive.
Enclosing, when asked what the general did after Max wrote the epigram and stole a turkey:
"He punished me terribly. He did nothing!
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Chapter 13. We're still on Havelaar's dessert story, so we get to hear how he got suspended. A tricky story. He was suddenly transferred from Natal to
Padang and in Padang he got suspended over inaccuracies in his bookkeeping. Havelaar had used money to pretend uprisings. He has found the general had
it in for him. Because he was suspended in Padang, he got trapped there, aged only 23, not knowing anybody and being homeless and on starvation
level.
He came into money after marrying Tine, and what he did was pay off the debts in Natal.
But here the author must digress:
(two pages on the importance of describing locales in literature)
(two pages of describing Havelaar's house)
(one page of describing how Mrs Slotering lives on the terrain)
New chapter.
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Halleluyah, I finished Max!
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Chapter 14
The interminable dinner party is now going on for three chapters (granted, the author never used a chapter division in the book, but still it's a nice
length indicator)
To my utter shame, even after reading through this chapter 5 times, I cannot summarize it half decent.y, but he relates of the circumstances in Natal
that lead to the financial gap he left behind. If you would like to try to decipher it for yourself, it's here:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Max_Havelaar/23
Halfway in this chapter the author makes clear that Max didn't talk as much like a lord during the dinner conversation.
Why write it?
Ah, mysteries of Dutch literature.
Anyway things go on - the house in Lebak gets furnished, and the predecessor's wife, Mrs Slotering, still won't let anyone near the house and refuses
to make her food in their kitchen.
And the garden is full of snakes. it overgrows in minutes, but Max refuses to let the prisoners of the village maintain it (it's his right to demand
that, but he finds that unfair.)
Havelaar complains to the resident about the situation to no avail.
The chapter ends with a German poem about a mother and child.
If you want to have a go, good luck!
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Max_Havelaar/23
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