BOOK: De Zwarte Met Het Witte Hart - Arthur Japin

Title: De Zwarte Met Het Witte Hart (The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi)
Author: Arthur Japin
Genre: Novel, history, family
Publisher: Arbeiderspers (1997)
Pages: Paperback, 430
Language: Dutch
Rating: 9/10
Summary: Arthur Japin debut novel tells the formerly unknown story about two young princes from Ghana who were given to King William The First in the early nineteenth century.

Spoilerfree review
I ignored this first book by Arthur Japin for a long time and not just because the original Dutch title made me a little uncomfortable ("The Black Man With The White Heart"). Back then I had a strong prejudice against Mr. Japin himself for being an actor on a soap-opera. Only after he was commissioned to write a novel for bookweek in 2006 (a free gift to buyers of books), did I manage to change my preconceived notions of him as a writer. Since then I have caught up with all the books he wrote, but I saved The Two Hearts Of Kwasi Boachi until last. I'm glad I did, because now I was aware of Japin's different writing styles. Although this book is not one of his most difficult to read, it does require focus.
The story is told by Kwasi himself in a flashback style that's not completely chronological, so the reader needs to pay attention to the timeline to work out Kwasi's life experience.
The book is based on the true story of Kwasi and his cousin Kwame, two Ghanese princes who arrived in The Netherlands in 1837. They were being given to King William to show the good will of their own King (and father and uncle) in negotiations about a weapons sale and (illegal) slave trading. They were promised an education that would benefit their country when they would eventually return.
Kwame and Kwasi -who were about ten years old at the time- did go to school and were taken care of by the Dutch authorities, but the boys had a very different way of handling the situation. While Kwasi tried to adjust to the society that he was forced to live in, Kwame refused to deny his roots and kept longing to go back to Ghana.
It is this different point of view that the book makes you think about. Is Kwasi's way of dealing better than Kwame's? Is one way of living better than the other? The answer is not as clear cut as I initially thought. On both sides there are more issues to consider before you can pick a side, if that is possible at all.

It is painful to read about the slave trade (that by then was illegal, but still in practice thanks to loopholes in the law) and about the boys struggling to find an identity in a society very different from the one they were born into. It's also a fascinating read with a lot of personal background information about Dutch history. Japin based his novel on the diaries of Kwame and official documents from the government. The story is not limited to the relationship between Africa and The Netherlands, but includes parts of Europe and Indonesia (The West Indies) as well. It overlaps with a famous Dutch novel by Multatuli (The Max Havelaar) that everyone in The Netherlands is required to read in highschool and I think the story of Kwasi and Kwami should also be included on the readinglist. Because despite, or more likely, thanks to the personal tone of voice it taught me a lot about my country and that dark period in our history.