My March NYRB selection arrived recently, Max Havelaar: or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company. I have started reading, but I am not quite sure what to make of it yet. I can see it is going to be a challenging read, or maybe I just need to give myself time to get into the story and get a routine and rhythm going with it. It seems like the sort of book that needs dedicated time spent with it. Maybe not the sort of book you read while walking on a treadmill in a loud gym!
The novel is an indictment of Dutch Colonialism written by a former colonial official in the Dutch colony of Java, what is now Indonesia under the pen name "Multatuli" which is Latin for "I have suffered greatly". It is presented in a hodge podge of styles--plays, poems, lists, letters, and notes. As serious as the subject, it is also considered "savagely funny" and caused quite a stir when it was published in 1859.
Had it not been my current subscription book, I likely would not pick this one up at this particular moment in time, which does not bode well for my attempt to read all my NYRBs this year. (A feat which has never been successfully accomplished I must add). So, I am going to try for a chapter a day and work my way through it slowly, even if it takes the better part of the year to finish reading!
I will say the introduction, which put it into the historical context of the era it was written was really very interesting and gave me hope that the story would pull me in. So, I am optimistically going to keep at it! This is going to be an adventure. We'll see how long I can endure!
Have you read it by any chance? Any suggestions on how to work my way through this text? Not take it too seriously? No to let it weigh me down too much?