THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN THE WORKS OF THREE SOUTH AFRICAN NOVELISTS OF THE TRANSITION by STEPHANE SERGE IBINGA Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE in English at the UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH Promotor: Prof. Annie. H. Gagiano December 2007 ii DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this dissertation is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. ………………. ………………… Signature Date iii ABSTRACT: The dissertation focuses on literary representation of female characters in selected novels by three particular South African writers working within the transitional phase (from the formal ending of apartheid up to the present) of South African history. By means of textual analysis, the study investigates how the representation of numerous female characters in these texts reflects on and reflects the sector of South African society that forms the social setting of each text. This thesis explores the portrayal of female characters in selected fictional works by examining the ways in which the novelists Mandla Langa, Zakes Mda (both of them black and male writers) and Nadine Gordimer (a white and female novelist) characterise women in novels depicting this adapting society. In scrutinising these texts of the transition period, the thesis writer employs detailed individual delineation of female characters, to some extent by means of a comparative approach, with emphasis on parallels between as well as differences among the abovementioned authors’ ways of describing South African women’s circumstances and responses to their social predicaments. In this study literary representations of women are examined in order to evaluate the effects of social and cultural transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. This is done by analysing these authors’ portrayals of women’s circumstances both in the private and public spheres. The thesis therefore contributes to the movement towards a greater recognition of women’s crucial, catalytic function in the achievement of social development and delineates these authors’ expressed awareness of many women’s actual direct involvement in the struggle against all forms of discrimination in society. This research project has been undertaken as an opportunity to investigate the different qualities and types of conduct attributed to female characters in ten selected novels of the transition, on the assumption that the texts reflect something of the way women are perceived and are playing new roles in a changing society. In studying how three significant ‘post-apartheid’ authors depict women affecting and affected by the social conditions of this period, the thesis traces the way the focus of more recent South African writing has shifted from an apartheid-era preoccupation with racial-political issues towards the depiction of private and public, rural and urban social and gender roles available to some contemporary South African women – and of those factors still constraining some other women. Taking in these authors’ portrayals of female political activism and leadership, the thesis also balances previous preoccupation (in South African English literature) with depictions of male political activity. OPSOMMING: Die proefskrif fokus op die literêre uitbeelding van vroue-karakters in uitgesoekte romans deur drie besondere Suid-Afrikaanse skrywers van die sogenaamde oorgangsfase (vanaf die formele beeindiging van apartheid tot die huidige periode) in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis. Deur middel van tekstuele analise ondersoek hierdie studie hoe die uitbeelding van ‘n aantal vroulike karakters in hierdie tekste die partikuliere Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing wat die agtergrond van elke teks vorm, reflekteer en daaroor besin. Die tesis bestudeer die uitbeelding van vroue-karakters in geselekteerde fiksie-tekste deur die metodes waarmee die romanskrywers Mandla Langa en Zakes Mda (albei manlike en swart skrywers) en Nadine Gordimer (‘n wit, vroulike skrywer) vroue uitbeeld (in romans van die oorgangsfase), na te vors. Deur die bestudering van hierdie oorgangsfase se tekste gebruik die skrywer van die proefskrif gedetailleerde individuele karakter-beskrywings, tot ‘n mate deur die gebruik van ‘n vergelykende metode en met beklemtoning van parallelle sowel as verskille tussen bogenoemde skrywers se maniere om Suid-Afrikaanse vroue se omstandighede en hul reaksies op hul sosiale probleme uit te beeld. In hierdie studie word literêre uitbeeldings van vroue geeksamineer ten einde die gevolge van sosiale en kulturele veranderings in post-apartheid Suid- Afrika na te spoor. Dit word vermag deur middel van die analise van hierdie drie skrywers se voorstellings van vroue in beide die private en die openbare sfeer. Derhalwe dra die tesis by tot die beweging na groter erkenning van vroue se krities-belangrike, katalitiese funksie in die bereiking van sosiale ontwikkeling, en omlyn dit die gekose skrywers se bewustheid van vroue se werklike, direkte betrokkenheid in die stryd teen alle vorms van diskriminasie in die samelewing. Hierdie navorsingsprojek is onderneem as ‘n geleentheid om ondersoek te doen na die verskillende tipes en voorbeelde van gedrag wat aan vroulike karakters toegeskryf word in tien uitgesoekte oorgangs-romans – berustend op die aanname dat hierdie tekste iets reflekteer van die maniere waarop vroue gesien word, asook hoe hulle nuwe rolle vervul, in ‘n veranderende samelewing. Deur te bestudeer hoe drie belangwekkende ‘post-apartheid’ skrywers vroue beskryf wat geaffekteer word deur sosiale omstandighede (en dit ook op hul beurt affekteer), omlyn die tesis hoe die fokuspunt in meer onlangse Suid-Afrikaanse skryfkuns verskuif het van die apartheids-era begaanheid met rassies-politiese sake na die private en openbare, plattelandse en stedelike sosiale en gender-rolle wat tans beskikbaar geword het vir Suid-Afrikaanse vroue – asook na die soort omstandighede wat nog steeds sommige vroue kortwiek. Deur aandag te gee aan hierdie skrywers se uitbeeldings van vroulike politieke aktivisme en leierskap balanseer die proefskrif ook die voormalige fokus (in die Engels-Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde) op die uitbeelding van manlike politieke aktiwiteite. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this scientific achievement to my mother, Agathe Koumba, my father, Vincent Ibinga and grandmother, Rosalie Koumba because they taught me capital values: about hard work and the meaning of making one’s parents proud. (v) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my heartfelt gratitude to my promotor Prof A.-H. Gagiano for being not only my own role model regarding her diligence but also for being a sincere friend showing her sympathy and compassion whenever I needed her support. I also would like to convey appreciative words towards Prof Frank Schulze-Engler for giving me the opportunity to work for the NELK Institute at the University of Frankfurt in 2006. My German experience has contributed a great deal to the achievement of this work. I wish to thank the Government of Gabon for funding my entire education and especially this laudable undertaking. My debt of gratitude also goes to the DAAD (German Institution) for granting me a scholarship to do research at the University of Frankfurt for a period of six months. Eventually, I would like thank the following people for their encouragements, generosity and affection: Gaelle Mve, Dr Karen Pawlish, Dr Sabrina Brancato, Achille-Mayel Bivigou, Isabel Haamel, Jeanne Ellis, Sarah Drici, Gilles Saphou-Bivigat, Sabine Paul, Julie Ntorintsiayi, Léandre Serge Soami, Habib Patrick Yoba Ngoma, Hugues-Steve Koumba Binza, Emmelie Arelette Legnouo, René Lakissi Mackosso, Jean Pierre Moudouma, Annie Mipimbou and Thierry Mouyouma. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: General Introduction 1-20 Chapter 2: Women and Political Activism 21-79 1. Mandla Langa 28 a) A Rainbow on the Paper Sky (1989) 28 b) Tenderness of Blood (1987) 48 c) The Memory of Stones (2000) 62 2. Zakes Mda 66 a) The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) 66 b) Ways of Dying (1995) 71 3. Nadine Gordimer 72 a) None to Accompany Me (1994) 72 b) The Pick Up (2001) 76 Chapter 3: Writing Women’s Lives in the Public Sphere 80-138 1. Nadine Gordimer 84 a) None to Accompany Me (1994) 84 b) The House Gun (1998) 90 c) The Pick Up (2001) 92 2. Zakes Mda 96 a) The Heart of Redness (2000) 96 b) Ways of Dying (1995) 104 c) She Plays with the Darkness (1995) 106 d) The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) 109 3. Mandla Langa 115 a) A Rainbow on the Paper Sky (1989) 115 b) The Memory of Stones (2000) 126 Chapter 4: The portrayal of Rural and Urban Women in their Private Lives 139- 248 A. The Private Realm of Rural Female Characters 141 1. Reading Zakes Mda’s Texts 141 a) Ways of Dying (1995) 141 b) The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) 151 c) She Plays with the Darkness (1995) 164 d) The Heart of Redness (2000) 173 2. Exploring the Private Realm of Rural Women in Gordimer’s Narratives 186 a) The Pick Up (2001) 186 B. The Private Realm of Urban Female Characters 193 1. Nadine Gordimer 196 a) None to Accompany Me (1994) 198 b) The House Gun (1998) 216 c) The Pick Up (2001) 226 2. Zakes Mda 229 a) She Plays with the Darkness (1995) 229 3. Mandla Langa 236 a) Tenderness of Blood (1987) 236 Chapter 5: Conclusion 249-259 Bibliography 260-281 Chapter 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION The shift from apartheid to democracy in South Africa has created a new socio-political environment within which citizens are aspiring to the establishment of new ways of living