This thesis explores the concept and application of nostalgia in a selection of contemporary South African novels chosen as representative of the multicultural diversity of South African literature. However, this does not necessarily mean that their representations of the past are superficial or sentimental. My interest is in the diversity of South African literature, particularly its range of cultural perspectives from the past (both collective and individual).
However, this does not necessarily mean that their presentations of the past are superficial or sentimental. Some of Van Heerde's interrogations of the past that blur the boundaries between the living and the dead have been described as 'colonial Gothic' (Irlam 2004), while the magical realism in his work (Warnes 2011; Alberts 2006) has been compared to the writings of García Márquez (Toerien 1987). For my part, I will pursue the “reflective” nostalgic features (Boym 2001) of Van Heerde's past writings—a research focus that I have not discovered among the above-mentioned critics.
In relation to Ronnie Govender's work, much of the critical reception focuses on his role in South African Indian theater (Naidoo 1997; Hansen 2000; Singh 2009; Annamalai 1998). I will add a perspective that examines his apparent longing, in his novels, for the tight-knit communities of the past.
Theoretical Concepts
Nostalgia, he says, is limited because it ultimately protects the ego and does not "let go" of the repressed parts of the past (or the memories of the past). While nostalgia “undoubtedly has its uses” in investigations of the past, deferred action is “crucial” (Hook 2012: 237). Nostalgia offers two types of meaning: a sense of “personal meaning in life”; and a sense that “the world outside the self is meaningful” (Juhl & Routledge 2013:213).
However, there is also a potential for the positive influence of nostalgia in that nostalgic self-reflexivity can lead to acceptance of the past and the present, and a reimagining of the future. My interest lies in nostalgia's usefulness as a concept or 'tool' in postcolonial literature when it is strategically employed, as Steiner (2009) suggests, to 'rescue' aspects of the past. However, Bhabha claims that the oppressed will return and that "the nation is haunted by an incredible return of the differences that have been denied" (cf. Edwards 2008:127).
Perhaps South African literature can be seen to be 'stuck' in 'crisis repetition' because of the approach it takes to trauma and crisis. Exploring instances of nostalgia in literary texts raises relevant questions: 'what has evoked the nostalgia?'; and 'what is the object of nostalgia?' In the study of these questions, other concepts such as 'space and identity', 'trauma' and.
Etienne van Heerden’s Ancestral Voices and 30 Nights in Amsterdam
Van Heerden's explorations of the past as therapeutic and/or reconciliatory are also present in Ancestral Voices. Van Heerden's "family saga" (Kannemeyer 1993: 136) tells the story of a family located on the isolated farms of the Karoo in the early 1900s. They are also marginal voices that would not be given importance in the discourse of the traditional plaasroman.
In his will he stipulated "the inalienable right [of every Moolman and Moolman] to a share in the produce of the farm". On the (white) side of the Moolman family – the central figures in the narrative – the family has a well-defined origin and desire for a strong lineage. As already mentioned, the nostalgic mood is already established in the very titles of the novel and its translation.
In dealing with space in this novel, Van Heerden again used the conventions of the traditional plaasroman. But – unlike Henk (the elder) and Grandma/MaOlivier – they do not accept the authoritarian forces of the farm. Henk has many fond memories of the farm - for example, riding the tractor with his father (51).
She cannot accept his apparent challenge to the farm's authority as De Melker's stronghold.
Rayda Jacobs’s The Slave Book and Joonie
Sachs Street (2001) is Jacob's third novel and is the last in the trilogy that follows the story of the fictional Kloot family. I intend to show that subverted traumas that manifest in Joonie's themes of dislocation are a continuation of the traumas suffered in the contexts of The Slave Book. The Slave Book takes place in the 1830s, the last years of slavery in the Cape Colony, while Joonie takes place in the 1980s and is told from the perspective of the 2000s.
Jacobs' earlier novel Eyes of the Sky describes an earlier generation of the Kloot family who "set up camp" and settled in the interior of the Cape Karoo. When he buys Sangora, De Villiers immediately finds himself challenged about the name of the slave. Sangora spends a hellish night in a cave with drosters, and the dark, damp conditions resemble a slave ship.
This is confirmed by the warm welcome he receives from Tuka: “The son of Eyes of the Sky. In the time frame of the novel (approximately 1833 to 1838), the Cape Colony's focal point is still the port. The first two chapters of The Slave Book contain two contrasting spaces - the Cape Colony and the Cape Karoo interior - which therefore offer a dual set of perspectives from the outset.
Tuka, "the little hunter broke away from the group and ran down the mountain towards him [saying] 'Son of the Eyes of Heaven. Expanding horizons accompanies the transition from the male interpretation of the slave book to the female perspective of Joonie. In The Slave Book, "the male perspective remains implicit in the role and importance of the male narrator's interpretations" (Wenzel 2004a:96).
At the same time, the spices connect her with the domesticity, labor and service of the kitchen. Metaphorically, she is covered in the spices of the slave trade, suggesting the limits of what is expected of and for her. By now a fifty-year-old woman, Joonie is the focalizer and protagonist of the novel.
From the safety of the grave - in the form of letters - she conveys the secrets she is ashamed of to Joonie. The sense of longing that Joonie conveys throughout the novel is partially softened at the end of the novel.
Mongane Wally Serote’s Revelations and Rumours
Serote was the “design inspiration” (Villa-Vicencio & Soko 2012:243) of Freedom Park and served as the monument's executive director. To Every Birth Its Blood is about political activity in the 1970s and explores how tensions in the country turned into violent conflict. In contrast, in the later novels of the 2010s (which I focus on in this study), I noticed that the focus shifts from the collective to the individual.
I will show that in Serote's later writings, in the post-apartheid era, his characters return to the concerns of the individual, and that his novels convey a deep (and paradoxical) sense of longing for an earlier sense of identity and show meaning. By the end of the novel, Otsile has “many questions [but] few answers” (237); his story is perhaps simply his reminder (to himself and the reader) to keep questioning and reflecting. At the beginning of the novel, Bra Shope explains to Otsile how he and his ex-wife gave everything for their marriage.
Bra Shope in the novel seems to reflect some confusion about an outcome in the present that does not match "the complete optimism of the past" (Serote from the past. In relation to Bra Shope's public image, the novel portrays him as the 'elder statesman'. Otsile notes, however, that although many of the people who meet Bra Shope "listen so intently".
Otsile's emotional development - from despair to optimism - is reflected in the structure of the novel. Phumzile makes "the laws of the nation with the nation" (166); Molefe is a Member of Parliament; and Jean is a computer expert. In the second part of the novel, Keke retreats to a sanctuary in Mali, where he participates in several rituals and ceremonies.
It does not have to be a longing for the past and a rejection of the present and future. 96 “The inside of the body […] emerges to compensate for the loss of the boundary between inside and outside. In the early chapters of the novel, Keke experiences an existential crisis and seeks comfort from his friend Mandla.
Typically, cultural practices facilitate the formation of a strong sense of self in the younger generation despite the natural gap between generations. Remembering the other empty houses he lived in—safe houses he shared with his comrades—he remembers the sense of belonging he felt among similar people.
