Chapter 9
The New Generation

‘New Generation’ is really a misnomer, for although these writers began writing later than Trefossa, some of them are his contemporaries and, in some instances, are even older than he. Some confessed that they discovered the possibilities of Creole as a literary language after reading Trefossa's poems. Trefossa in a sense paved the way for them. Today there are so many authors publishing in Creole1 that we are forced to be highly selective. After studying all the published material, we felt that three of them proved to be of really outstanding quality: Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout, Michaël Slory, and Edgar Cairo. They represent at the same time three different generations: a grandmother in her sixties, a man in his thirties, and a student in his twenties.

We do not wish to suggest that others have not written remarkable poems. They have indeed, and we regret that we are unable to include some of them in this anthology. But the complete output of these other poets does not permit a substantial selection of really outstanding quality. Instead of presenting in this final chapter a panorama of the new generation, we have preferred a selection of the best authors and a representative sample of their work.

Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout, born in 1910 in Paramaribo, is older than Trefossa but has been influenced by his work. We do not suggest that she imitated him. On the contrary, she started writing poems without knowing that she had fallen prey to the muse. They were written down in a notebook, amidst the aromatic fragrances of her cooking pots, as bits of prose without punctuation or versification. Someone else had to enlighten her that these were poems, and with some help her work was transformed into poetry.2 She can be

regarded as the Grandma Moses of Creole literature, but her work is certainly far from naive. Her poems are often very difficult to interpret. This may be due partly to her frequent use of special terms from lower-class culture, and partly to her exploitation of lower-class idioms and proverbs.3 More often than not, however, her poems seem to touch some subconscious depth, which demands from the reader a deep understanding of the psychological problems of Creoles, branded with the mark of slavery and colonial times and frustrated in their hopes for a brighter future. We must confess that these poems have deeply moved us.

Michaël Slory, born in Coronie in 1935, is a poet involved in politics. Although his political poems can be highly effective ammunition in the political struggle, as a poet he seems carried away far too often by uncontrolled emotions, which harm or even ruin the poetic balance. He started by using Dutch exclusively, even denying his Creole background in a certain way.4 Around 1960 he found himself in an emotional crisis as a result of his first contact with African culture. He was then ‘converted’ to Creole, although he still writes Dutch poems. He published his first collection of Creole poems, Sarka (Struggle),5 under the African pseudonym Asjantenu Sangodare. Here he gives expression to his political preoccupation with the injustice of this world. In the same period he prepared a second collection under the title Fraga mi wortoe (Signal my words). These poems deal with more personal themes. Many refer to his youth in the district, but they also show his concern with the national problems of a multiracial society. The collection was accepted for publication in Surinam, but the death of his publisher, and also the fact that the latter feared possible political consequences, delayed publication for several years and led to the poems remaining unpublished until 1970, when Slory privately financed the publication of six collections of poems, of which Fraga mi wortoe was one. The other collections are Bonifoto (The fortress of Boni), Nengre-oema (Negro woman),

Lobisingi (Love song), Vietnam , and Memre den dé (Remember the days).

Edgar Cairo, born in Paramaribo in 1948, is a young student who published his first novel, Temekoe , in 1969. He has published some collections of poems since then.6 Prose production in Creole has always been meager, so this first Creole novel came as a big surprise to insiders. Cairo deals almost exclusively with his relationship to his father, a stern and lonely man, who distrusted everyone. In the last chapter of the book, presented here, he tells the story of his father's social life: about the only friend he ever had, his colleagues at the factory, his wife and children, his relatives. He led a completely independent but utterly miserable life. The chapter starts with a vision of a perfectly happy independent existence and ends on a haunting evocation of a lonely man trying to reach out to the world.

The examples cited in this chapter will make clear that the limited range of subjects treated by Trefossa has considerably widened. The authors are deeply concerned with the tensions of a multiracial society and are also deeply moved by the struggle for independence of developing nations and by the fight against the injustices of this world. They try to understand their own problems and their own history in terms of universal sorrow and glory. In this way, Creole literature in Surinam has gone beyond its boundaries without losing touch with its own Creole background.

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Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout

Michaël Slory

Edgar Cairo

Wan pisi fu libi

Prakseri taki ofa a no switi fu de na mindri libisma. Fa yu ben e go firi, efu den ben poti yu, yu wawan, na mindri fu someni swit' sani. Yu sa wani fu didon yu wawan na tapu wan sula, nanga moy geri èn broyn ston. Na watra e kowru yu. Na watra e datra yu ebi prakseri. Na watra e dofu yu gi na sten fu konsensi. Efu yu sa firi yu srefi yu wawan, dan na watra kan lekti yu srefi, opo yu, poti na mindri soso santawan. Yu e kisi wan aparti presi. Na mindri fu den yu kan de. Yu kan tesi na switi firi fu na santa dey. Ma yu no kan taki nanga den, bika den no abi tongo moro fu ley. Soso farawe yu kan si den. Mi abi na bribi taki so fasi yu no e tan wan dey na Masra fesi. Dan yu e saka kon baka na yu sula, dorosey fu foto b'bari. Te angri kiri yu, yu kan go na yu kampu. Tafra leki tafra e wakti yu - ma no wan sma no de fu si. O langa yu e go tan so? Son sma e go ori na libi disi wan wiki. Trawan wan mun langa. Wán enkri

[naar vertaling]

wan sa man fu libi so wan yari langa. Ma te fu kaba yu e go law. Yu e go dede.

Dati meki son sma abi furu mati. Son wan abi pikinso. Ma mi papa dati, wanwan a abi, fu taki reti, a abi wan nomo. Fu taki moro reti, a ben abi wan. A ben de wan trutru, san den e kari: dip' bere mati. Den tu so ben pasa skorobangi makandra. Takru nanga bun fu wi Sranan, den ben prati. Efu foto ben e seki, den ben de na bradyari tu, efu foto ben abi rostu, dan den srefi tu ben kowru. Edi, na so a ben nen. Na mofo mi ben e kari en Basedi. Basedi ben de sneyri. A ben fin'fini.

Wan takru sortu kosokoso di no abi kaba a ben gwenti e kisi. Ala yuru wan pikin pisi tabaka ben e anga na en mofobuba. Mi ben e kari dati en ‘tabakaworon.’ Te a ben tan, dan a ben ari wan dampu fu na ‘lespeki tabaka.’ Nanga kosokoso a smoko e ari en srefi komopo na ini en gorogoro. En mofobuba di ben srapu leki na lanki fu wan udubaki, ben e lon wan pikinso tabaka watra. Dan so a ben e ari en baka anu pasa. En fesi ben dipi leki gronmarki pe pikinnengre prey. A ben gwenti tyari en wakatiki, fu di en wansey futu no ben de leki fa gado meki di fu tra sma. Ay, Edi! Tide yu no de moro, baya. Pe na ten go. Fa mi ben e si yu so krinkrin, tide mi no mu si yu moro.

Te mi papa Nelis ben friyari, furu sma no ben e kon. Wanwan kompe so, ben kan kon trus' ede pikinso. Ma es' esi den ben e ari pasi, bika mi papa no ben e taki tori. A ben e sidon fow en anu na ondro en kakumbe. Ma yu si, te Basedi ben doro, dan tori ben dray. Now den ben de fu lo pondo. Den ben e nati den neki nanga gindyabiri èn tesi wan mofo fiadu. Tranga sopi noyti ben e de, bika no dringi, no smoko, mi papa ben e du. ‘Mi moni na mi sopi èn mi wroko na mi smoko.’ Te den yonkuman fu wrokope yere na tori disi, dan den e lafu. Dati na wan bigiman srefsrefi. Basedi srefi ben e lafu tu nanga ala den tifi di blaka fu soso tabaka. Now a ben de na en yuru. Nanga wan lekti geme a ben e opo en tori.

Sipiman di ben e kon nay krosi, noyti ben e pay. Ala fa en uma ben owru-owru; toku den ben abi dek'ati e kon suku en. Wan leysi wan fu den bigiskin kel opo na en tapu fu en umapikin ede. Luku dyaso, Basedi grabu wan nefi, ma a no ben abi dek'ati, someki a so esi leki fa a ben kan, lon go kibri na baka wan ston peti. Di na man now - a no ben sabi na presi - dray en baka gi Basedi, dati now fringi na wakatiki naki a man. Nanga den wortu:

[naar vertaling]

‘Kon, mi e go puru krasi gi yu,’ a kari en gari, opo na nefi fu priti na man poti na bonyogron. Na pôti matrosi ben lobi en libi, so meki a teki diafutu. So na tori dati kon kaba.

Wan tra tori baka na fu sma di a ben gwenti nay gi. Na tan a tan wan dey - a ben e nyan wan pisi sowtu lemki, bika korsu nomo ben broko en mofo èn tapu en tesi - suma e broko kon dati fruku mamanten: skowtu. SUKOWTU?! A ben weri wan pikin pisi blonsaka ondrobruku. Es'esi a weri en bruku, en flanel bosroko, en trekbanti èn wan gerigeri weti empi di no ben go na breki ete. Sito sito a ben abi fu go nanga Kowlader. San ben pasa so dan? We, wan sma ben tya krosi fu kon nay wan trowpaki. A ben si taki na krosi ben furu, ma nanga en ay tapu na ‘wenste’ di a ben e go meki, a no si taki na krosi ben fufuru!

Edi gi tori, te a gi tori fa sma suku fu wisi en nanga moni. Ay, ma a no waka leki fa na frufruktu ben prakseri! Koloku fu Edi, a ben abi wan papamoni na ini en portumoni èn fu di leti na fesi a ben bay lemki fu puru nanga asisi na smeri di ben kon tay fasi na en ondro-anu, na eri wroko pori. A ben de so srefi taki na takru yeye mandi. Fa na man e langa na moni so, so en anu tan fasi.

Ondrofeni tori ben e lolo go lolo kon te wan sani fu neygi yuru. Dan Basedi ben e teki en felt-ati, nanga en wakatiki fu suku osopasi. Te tra yari baka, nanga gado wani.

Te neti ben tapu, den bigisma fu mi ben e dribi den tu sturu di den ben abi go na wan sey. Te sribi ben kiri mi, dan frukufruku papaya ben abi fu bradi. Mi no ben kan tan arki den betiyesi tori fu Basedi, bika na bigisma no ben lobi te pikinnengre mofo e warsi na ini en tori efu den bradi den yesimama e arki. Yu! Dorfu ben waki en leki paderij. Wan klapu ben sari yu! Ma mi dati a no ben kan fasi, mi papa ben sa sorgu fu dati. Mi no ben kan sidon arki, so mi ben e didon. Te na yuru ben doro, mi ben kan yere na wakatiki e gwe. Tikó ... tikótikó ...! Leki te yorka e prey mormo na neti. Tikó ...! tikó ...!

Dey na fesi mi ben e dren kaba taki so wan man e go kon. Na neti dati mi pikinnengre tonton e stampu nanga tori. Ma tan mi ben

[naar vertaling]

kan so, dan mi ben kan yagi en gwe. Te a ben opo mi, mi ben e kofu ala en fesi, kofu ala en fesi, kofu en ... te a no ben abi ay moro, no noso, no mofo. Sma no ben mu sabi en moro, bikasi en wawan ben de mi papa mati, en wawan ben sabi fu puru mi papa na mi anu. Na a neti dati, mi no ben e sribi bun. Mi ben fasandruku.

Bakaten srefi, mi ben e kon kweki wan prakseri fa mi kan meki na eri tori kon na wan kab