notes Achebe’s Things tr. de Fernando Santos THINGS FALL APART Todo se derrumba [1958] by de Chinua Achebe 5 Chinua Achebbe tr. de Fernando Santos ANCHOR BOOKS 10 ALFAGUARA, MADRID, 1986] Anchor Books Edition, New York, 1994 15 Turning and turning in the widening gyre Girando y girando en órbita creciente The falcon cannot hear the falconer; El halcón ya no oye al halconero; Things Fall Apart ; the center cannot hold; Todo se derrumba; el centro ya no aguanta; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. El mundo .re sume en la mera anarquía. —W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming” 20 W. B. YEATS: «El Segundo Advenimiento 25 PARTE I CHAPTER ONE [15] CAPITULO I Okonkwo was well known throughout 30 Okonkwo era muy conocido en las nue- the nine villages and even beyond. His ve aldeas e incluso más allá. Su fama se fame rested on solid personal basaba en unos éxitos personales conside- achievements. As a young man of rables. Cuando era un muchacho de diecio- eighteen he had brought honor to his cho años había dado honra a su pueblo al village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. 35 vencer a Amalinze El Gato. Amalinze era el Amalinze was the great wrestler who for gran luchador invicto desde hacía siete años, seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia desde Umuofia hasta Mbaino. Lo llamaban to Mbaino. He was called the Cat El Gato porque nunca daba con las espal- because his back would never touch the das en tierra. Ese era el hombre al que de- earth. It was this man that Okonkwo 40 rribó Okonkwo en una pelea que los ancia- threw in a fight which the old men agreed nos convenían había sido la más dura desde was one of the fiercest since the founder que el fundador de su pueblo combatió sie- of their town engaged a spirit of the wild te días y siete noches con un genio de la for seven days and seven nights. espesura. 45 The drums beat and the flutes sang Los tambores batían, las flautas canta- and the spectators held their breath. ban y los espectadores contenían el aliento. wily adj. 1 crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, Amalinze was a wily craftsman, but Amalinze era un luchador muy astuto, pero knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily marked by skill in deception; “cunning men Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in Okonkwo era más escurridizo que el pez en often pass for wise”; “deep political water. Every nerve and every muscle 50 el agua. En los brazos de ambos resaltaban machinations”; “a foxy scheme”; “a slick evasive answer”; “sly as a fox”; “tricky stood out on their arms, on their backs cada nervio y cada músculo, igual que en Dik”; “a wily old attorney” astuto, taimado and their thighs, and one almost heard las espaldas y los muslos, y casi se podía them stretching to breaking point. In the oír cómo todo se tensaba hasta casi romper- end Okonkwo threw the Cat. se. Al final, Okonkwo derribó al Gato. 55 That was many years ago, twenty Aquello había sido hacía muchos años, years or more, and during this time veinte años o más, y en todo aquel tiempo Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush- la fama de Okonkwo había crecido como harmattan: the dry, dusty wind that blows south from fire in the harmattan. He was tall and un fuego de sabana durante el harmattan. the Sahara in January huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide 60 Era alto y muy fornido, y con sus cejas nose gave him a very severe look. He tupidas y su nariz anchísima tenía un as- breathed heavily, and it was said that, pecto muy grave. Respiraba muy hondo, when he slept, his wives and children in y se decía que cuando dormía sus muje- their houses could hear him breathe. res y sus hijos, en las casas de al lado, When he walked, his heels hardly 65 podían oír su [16] respiración. Al andar 1 notes Achebe’s Things tr. de Fernando Santos touched the ground and he seemed to apenas si tocaba el suelo con los talones walk on springs, as if he was going to y parecía andar sobre muelles, como si pounce on somebody. And he did pounce estuviera a punto de lanzarse sobre al- on people quite often. He had a slight guien. Y es verdad que muchas veces se stammer and whenever he was angry and 5 lanzaba sobre la gente. Era algo tartamu- could not get his words out quickly do, y cuando se enfadaba y no podía de- enough, he would use his fists. He had cir las cosas tan rápido como quería, em- no patience with unsuccessful men. He pleaba los puños. No soportaba a los fra- had had no patience with his father. casados. No soportaba a su padre. 10 Unoka, for that was his father’s name, Unoka, pues así se llamaba su padre, ha- had died ten years ago. In his day he was bía muerto hacía diez años. Toda su vida lazy and improvident and was quite había sido mal proveedor y perezoso, y era incapable of thinking about tomorrow. totalmente incapaz de pensar en el mañana. If any money came his way, and it seldom 15 Si tenía algún dinero, cosa nada frecuente, gourd: the hard skin of around fruit, used as a did, he immediately bought gourds of inmediatamente se compraba calabazas de drinking vessel palm-wine, called round his neighbors vino de palma, llamaba a los vecinos y se palm-wine an intoxicating drink made by fermenting the sap of the oil-palm and made merry. He always said that divertía. Siempre decía que cuando le veía whenever he saw a dead man’s mouth he la boca a un muerto comprendía lo tonto saw the folly of not eating what one had 20 que era no comer lo que se podía en vida. in one’s lifetime. Unoka was, of course, Unoka, naturalmente, tenía deudas, y le de- a debtor, and he owed every neighbor bía algo de dinero a cada uno de los veci- cowries a type of sea-shell, formerly used as money some money, from a few cowries to quite nos, desde unos cuantos cauríes hasta can- in West Africa substantial amounts. tidades considerables. 25 He was tall but very thin and had a Era alto, pero muy delgado y andaba slight stoop. He wore a haggard and algo encorvado. Tenía siempre un gesto mournful look except when he was sombrío y apesadumbrado, salvo cuando drinking or playing on his flute. He was estaba bebiendo o tocando la flauta. To- very good on his flute, and his happiest 30 caba muy bien la flauta, y cuando mejor moments were the two or three moons after lo pasaba era durante las dos o tres lunas the harvest when the village musicians siguientes a la cosecha, cuando los músi- brought down their instruments, hung cos de la aldea bajaban los instrumentos above the fireplace. Unoka would play que tenían colgados encima de la chime- with them, his face beaming with 35 nea. Unoka tocaba con ellos, con la cara blessedness and peace. Sometimes another radiante de felicidad y de paz. A veces otra village would ask Unoka’s band and their aldea pedía a la banda de Unoka y a sus egwugwu: a masquerader who impersonates one of dancing egwugwu to come and stay with bailarines egwugwu que fueran a pasar the ancestral spirits of the village egwugwu a masked dancer who impersonates a spirit them and teach them their tunes. They unos días con ellos y les enseñaran sus in Ibo rituals would go to such hosts for as long as 40 melodías. Se iban a pasar con esos anfi- three or four markets, making music and triones hasta tres o cuatro mercados, y feasting. Unoka loved the good hire and hacían música y fiestas. A Unoka le en- the good fellowship, and he loved this cantaban la buena comida y la buena com- season of the year, when the rains had pañía, y le encantaba la estación del año stopped and the sun rose every morning 45 en que cesaban las lluvias y el sol salía with dazzling beauty. And it was not too todas las mañanas con una belleza des- hot either, because the cold and dry lumbrante. Y tampoco hacía calor, porque harmattan: the dry, dusty wind that blows south from harmattan wind was blowing down del norte llegaba el viento frío y seco del the Sahara in January Irom the north. Some years the harmattan harmattan. Algunos años el harmattan era was very severe and a dense haze hung 50 muy fuerte y el aire se llenaba de una es- on the atmosphere. Old men and children pesa niebla. Entonces los ancianos y los would then sit round log fires, warming niños se sentaban en torno a las hogueras their bodies. Unoka loved it all, and he [17] para calentarse. A Unoka le encantaba kite a large scavenging bird of the hawk kind loved the first kites that returned with todo, y le encantaban los primeros milanos the dry season, and the children who sang 55 que volvían con la estación seca y los niños songs of welcome to them. He would que les cantaban canciones de bienvenida. remember his own childhood, how he Recordaba su propia infancia, cómo muchas had often wandered around looking for veces se echaba a andar a ver si veía un mi- leisurely 1 lento, pausado; at a ~ pace sin prisas 2 a kite sailing leisurely against the blue lano planeando calmadamente en el cielo relajado: let’s take a leisurely stroll, demos un pa- seo sin prisas 3 adv.