EPISODE 34: P.A. Daum, "Ups and Downs of Life in the Indies" (1890), Part Two

Chapters 7-12: 0:00—The beginning of a desire. 7:30—An escape route. 8:13—P.A. Daum. 11:22—Coffee with Aunt Clara. 14:13—Very unpleasant. 16:16—Interlude.

Chapters 13-21: 17:30—Her soiled roots. 20:31—Precocious degradation. 23:52—Disinformation & denial. 27:00—Hereditary or existential despair. 31:49—Depression. 32:56—Sick Europeans. 34:42—Four or five good years. 38:29—Climate change. 43:12—The dreary normal. 45:57—His spirit is sick. 46:46—In a Chinese shop. 48:18—Suicide prevention. 50:15—The phantasmagoria. 52:05—Colonial life goes on. 54:08—Abrupt ending. 55:47—A more satisfying closing.

Text: P.A. Daum, Ups and Downs of Life in the Indies. Translated by Elsje Quinn Sturtevant and Donald W. Sturtevant. Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1987.

Interludes: Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 4 (1891), performed by Takuma Sugawara, 2024.

Illustration: Huygens Instituut.

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