Kalimantaan is a novel by C. S. Godshalk offering a fictionalized account of the exploits of James Brooke in Sarawak on Borneo.
The novel won the 1998 Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Plot introduction The novel uses of a variety of writing forms, including diary entries, letters, and straight narrative to tell its story. The author intentionally makes it difficult to determine what "really" happens in the story from dreams and fantasies of the characters.
Plot summary In 1839, an English adventurer arrived on the northwest coast of Borneo, commissioned to deliver a letter of gratitude to the Sultan of Brunei for having safely returned the crew of a British merchantman, lost on his coast. It was a region full of headhunters, pirate tribes, and slave traders. Most Europeans with the temerity to enter the region had never been heard from again. This particular adventurer, however, seems to know how to play one power against another and manages to keep his balance in the midst of chaos. After performing a service for the Sultan (resolving a local tribal conflict through the use of his schooner's guns and leading an organized assault on a small native river fort), he is named governor of Sarawak, subject to the Sultan of Brunei. Within a few years, he has become the Rajah of Sarawak, an independent state, and established a dynasty that will last one hundred years.
Godshalk has changed names and details while evoking a sense of the time, place, and atmosphere of the real events. The real adventurer was James Brooke; Ms. Godshalk's is named Gideon Barr. James Brooke's schooner was named the Royalist; Gideon Barr's is the Carolina (named after his mother). James Brooke was succeeded by his nephew, Charles Johnson, who took the last name Brooke. Gideon Barr is succeeded by his nephew Richard Hogg (Ms. Godshalk does not deal with the change of last name since her story focuses on Gideon's life and ends with his death).
Although many of the events described actually took place, one cannot simply change the names and read the novel as history. James Brooke's mother died in 1844, two years after he became Rajah. Gideon's mother dies in Borneo much earlier while he is in grade school in England, providing him an emotional link to Borneo James Brooke did not have. James Brooke never married a European, although there is evidence that he was married to a Malay woman. Gideon Barr marries an Englishwoman to provide himself an "air of permanence" as Rajah and we see much of the later portion of the story through Amelia Barr's eyes. Amelia Barr is fictional, but largely based on Margaret Brooke, wife of the second Rajah, and her book "My Life in Sarawak". Gideon also maintains a Malayan mistress who provides a note of tragedy in the way her presence poisons Gideon and Amelia's relationship.
On the other hand, the 30,000 pounds that Brooke/Barr inherited at his father's death which enabled him to acquire his schooner, the massacre of the sons of the Sultan of Brunei, the Chinese insurrection of 1857, and the commission of inquiry in Singapore all took place as described. The inquiry in Singapore was concerned with the battle of Labuan in which Brooke/Barr led British warships in a pre-emptive strike against a pirate fleet, breaking the power of the Bugis for the next twenty years. Brooke/Barr's enemies attempted to use this against him by claiming he had used British naval power to slaughter innocent natives.
Godshalk uses Malay words extensively in the book. While she provides a brief Malay glossary as an appendix, it does not cover all the words she uses. Enjoyment of Kalimantaan will be enhanced if one knows the following Malay words which are not in the glossary provided by the author:
Malay English abang elder brother adat tradition, custom ajar to teach berani, brani brave, bold besar big, great bulan moon, month bujang bachelor buaya crocodile bulbul nightingale datin wife of a datu datu minister in traditional Malay government dayang woman of high rank hantu, antu ghost, spirit hati liver (as the seat of emotion, typically translated "heart") ikan fish ikat tie, knot jaga guard jalan street, road kain cloth (in the story, it describes a cloth belt) kaya wealthy, rich kongsi association, partnership kris stabbing dagger with flaming, or wavy, blade kuli unskilled laborer lalang a variety of long-bladed grass lida tongue kecelakaan misfortune, accident merah red mudah young, junior orang person padang field padi ricefield pagi morning parang cutlass, machete payung (payong) umbrella, parasol pikul (picul) 1) a unit of weight of 133 lb (60 kg); 2) to carry on one's shoulder puasa fast, to abstain from eating rajput princeling, diminutive of rajah sakit sick selamat hari literally, "good day". Typically, the expression selamat siang (good mid-day) is used selamat pagi good morning seluar trousers, pants si generic honorific, e.g. Si Tundo stengah half sudah already, denotes past tense tahun year tanah earth, soil tiba to arrive tuah old, elder, senior tuak toddy, palm-wine tuan lord, used as an honorific, as in Tuan Barr tunku overlord, governor
Kampilan, actually a Filipino word, designates a long native sword.
Release details 1998, USA ?, Henry Holt , Pub date ? April 1998, hardback 1999, Canada, Doubleday of Canada , Pub date ? May 1999, paperback
References