Gifts and Games in Frank Martinus Arion's Dubbelspel

Frank Martinus Arion's Dubbelspel , a brilliant exploration of Curacaoan society in the wake of the riots of May 30, 1 9692 opens with three epigraphs, two of which help to establish the decidedly ironic tone of the novel. The first epigraph is from an essay by Bertrand Russell, in which Russell speaks of how Tsar Nicholas M's indifference to politics was matched only by his passion for dominoes. Apparently, on the very eve of the 1917 Revolution the Tsar wrote a letter to his wife mentioning how much he was looking forward to taking up dominoes again in his spare time. This can be read either as a testimony to the Tsar's frivolity and short-sightedness, or as a token of the seductive power of the game of dominoes. In the novel's third epigraph, Arion offers another example of how a passion for dominoes can disrupt one's usual sense of what's important and what's not. Arion cites a report claiming that the Dutch managed in 1625 to take the fortress of El Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico only because the fort's Spanish defenders were busy playing dominoes. Irkthis case, the game constitutes a distraction from events in the real world, but it also helps shape the outcome of these

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