J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace is a novel set in post-Apartheid South Africa that depict’s the life of an apathetic white middle aged university professor, David Lurie, who was “disgraced” after his affair with a student. He moves to the country to live with his daughter, Lucy, who farms and cares for animals. After the farm is attacked and his daughter is raped by indigenous men, David begins feeling empathy towards animals and seeks vengence against the assailants, much to Lucy’s disaproval; one of the attackers is associated with Petrus, a black neighbour who Lucy provided economic assistance for.
Antjie Krog’s Country of My Skull is a non fiction work which harrowingly recounts and provides commentary for the South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs). In these commissions, victims and perpetrators of Apartheid crimes sit and discuss their own stories, often leading to much racial tension. Much of the book problematizes South Africa’s communal memory as it reveals the multifaceted nature of South Africa’s divided society.
Disgrace does not specifically discuss post-Apartheid as a theme however the era can be felt throughout the whole novel. Of course, perhaps the biggest instance would be the farm attack. Historically, white South Africans, also called Afrikaners or Boers, held vast areas of farming land. This was was of course amplified during the Apartheid era. The attack on the farm can be viewed as a retribution against Afrikaners for the injustices they caused the country’s native populations. This is a view enforced by David who believes that the rape is not directed against Lucy as a person but against the Afrikaner race while Lucy believes that the men simply want to dominate women. This strongly suggests that at least some Afrikaners have a communal memory of committing injustice against indigenous groups.
These conflicting views can be interpreted as representing different communal memories in South Africa. David’s view may represent a resentment for the loss of white power after the fall of Apartheid. Because it is not specifically stated in the novel, I wondered whether David may hold racist opinions, considering the views he expressed about the nature of the attack, his disdain for Petrus, his disapproval of Lucy’s intentions to keep the baby she got from being raped, and his determination to physically harm Lucy’s rapist, Pollux, who is a 16 year old boy. While rape is by all means a most terrible crime, David appears especially angry at Pollux which I interpreted as having to do with the colour of his skin. Lucy’s views on the other hand may embody at the spirit of reconciliation as she decides to both help Petrus and not go after Pollux. In class we discussed how her nomadic lifestyle presents her as a frontierswoman who is treading a new age of South African society that aims to construct a multiracial communal memory; this is especially considering the fact that Lucy works with and lives many indigenous peoples (which would have been prohibited during the Apartheid).
Country of My Skull is different in that it is specifically about truth and reconciliation. Krog notes various times that she has difficulties using the word truth during her reporting. Could this perhaps be a result of South Africa’s differing and often opposing communal memories? Could it be because South African society has yet to create a single truth for interpreting its tragic history? One moment which struck me was when a victim of torture asked his perpetrator to confess. His perpetrator rebuffed him on the grounds that it was “against the spirit of reconciliation.” For me, this especially signifies an intense lack of cohesion in deciding how to construct communal memory and that there are certain actors who wish to construct it in a way that exonerates them of their crimes.
This reminded me of our class’s work earlier in the year about cultural memory and master narratives. We earlier discussed how cultural memory is ever changing and that it can be passed down through technologies of memory, objects which have specific yet fluid cultural significance. Perhaps both texts act as technology’s of memory as South Africa continues to unravel its troubled past and recreate a master narrative that is truly reflective of its population.
Until next time,
Aleksei Zhukov