South Africa: Three Great Books
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 12.18.07 | 7:37 AM ET
In Three Great Books, we highlight must-reads for a topic, city or country.
Photo by Victor Geere via Flickr (Creative Commons)
The German philosopher Friedrich Schiller believed that periods of oppression and tyranny produce the greatest works of art; in his words, that “truth and beauty, with their own indestructible vitality, struggle triumphantly to the surface.” In South Africa’s case, at least, he just may have been right. The apartheid era and its aftermath have inspired a wealth of high-quality literature from the likes of Alan Paton, Zakes Mda and Nobel Prize winners Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee. Three great books:
by Nelson Mandela. Mandela’s autobiography is an essential primer for understanding both South Africa’s past and its present. The book covers the major milestones in the fight against apartheid, from the debate over civil disobedience versus armed resistance to the 1960 Sharpeville killings, the Rivonia trial, Mandela’s 27 years in prison and the events leading to his release. The details of his everyday life, from a childhood in the rural Transkei region to his obsessive exercise regime while imprisoned, add color and humanity to the political narrative. The final section of the book deals with the conflict between Mandela’s ANC and the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party, a division that still informs South African politics today.
Country of my Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie Krog. Krog is a journalist, poet, and—a relative rarity in the apartheid years—a staunchly left-leaning Afrikaner. She spent a good portion of the 1990s traveling around the country covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for SABC radio, and “Country of my Skull” is a memoir about her experiences. Krog mixes wrenching transcripts from the hearings with interviews, anecdotes and thoughtful personal reflections: about the nature of radio journalism and the inherent strangeness of packaging human suffering into 30-second soundbites, about the conflict between her feelings of guilt and loyalty as an Afrikaner, and about her hopes and fears for her country.
She writes:
In the second week of hearings, I do a Question and Answer on a current affairs program. I stammer. I freeze. I am without language. I put the receiver down, and think: Resign. Now. You are clearly incompetent. The next morning, the Truth Commission sends one of its own counselors to address the journalists. “You will experience the same symptoms as the victims. You will find yourself powerless—without help, without words.” I am shocked to be a textbook case within a mere ten days.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee won the Booker Prize in 1999 for this novel about David Lurie, an English professor who seduces a student, loses his job and moves from Cape Town to his daughter’s isolated Eastern Cape farm to regroup. When he and his daughter are attacked on the farm, Lurie is forced to confront not only his changing status, but also the broader changes and shifting power dynamics in post-apartheid South Africa. It’s dark, cynical and totally engrossing. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, and his other South African novels include Age of Iron, Life and Times of Michael K and In the Heart of the Country.
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Joanna Kakissis 12.18.07 | 4:41 PM ET
Good selections and insight Eva. I love Coetzee and Krog, but I haven’t yet read Mandela. The books sounds fantastic.
Eva Holland 12.18.07 | 11:20 PM ET
Thanks, Joanna - I’m so glad to find someone else who knows Country of my Skull! That book changed my life. (Well, it changed my major. From classics to African history.)
Terry Brown 07.14.08 | 2:06 PM ET
Great job! Your selection of books is really worth of reading. I have read all three books and I can say that each of them left some special trace in my soul.
Viaggi Africa 08.04.08 | 12:11 PM ET
Thank you very much for listing these great books. Will definitely pick them up!
pelu awofeso 09.27.08 | 3:37 PM ET
Antjie Krog was a hit with Nigerian Arts writers when she was guest speaker at a Book Fair hosted in Lagos in 2005. I still recall her standing before an expectant audience and giving a sober and moving recollection of her coverage of the peace and reconcilliation efforts. Looking back now,I am also reminded of her broody, bespectacled face.