post-colonial_translation

88 André Lefevere
The courageous mestizo walks along these streets,
And beckons, and looks around with eyes full of seductive
dalliance,
To see if a wanderer would be moved by this glory
To throw himself away, foolishly, on this made-up venom.
But beware, foreigner! it would be lethal for you:
The evil Venus who may now please your soul,
Shall send you all too bitterly into a marsh of calamities,
And you, who in a short while will be the world’s laughing
stock,
Will soon see the folly of this cursed pleasure.
Yet even if these warnings may help to keep the Dutch out of dissipation,
the lifestyle of the Dutch in Batavia would definitely be frowned upon
in Amsterdam (p. 110):
The morning alone is intended for the transaction of their business;
after eating they hold the siesta or afternoon sleep, and they spend
the evening enjoying themselves. As soon as they come home from
doing their business, they throw off their coats and take off their
wigs, since nobody except sailors and soldiers wears his own hair,
because of the heat and the sultriness, but they all have their heads
shaved, which is definitely quite a bit cooler. And so in undress,
only in a vest and trousers of black satin, and their heads covered
with a cotton nightcap, you see them walking in the afternoon
along the streets or in front of their houses; even when they go to
pay a visit they will hardly put on a hat.
This description is certainly a far cry from what de Marre claims the
good citizens of Batavia are like (p. 308):
When the city’s dwellings give off a big shadow,
The dew drips like pearls on avenues of tamarind trees,
Under which the people cools its desire for generous
friendship,
Washes the dust of the roads from its hot liver,
Prepares the evening meal in the pavilion above the water,
Marries the sound of the shrill fiddle to happy laughter,
And, never fearing the gaze of evil tongues,
Contented, looks at the face of the morning sun to come.