Pepetela,. Yaka. Chicago: Heinemann, 1986. vii + 307 pp. $11.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-435-90962-8.

Reviewed by Eugene M. Baer

Published on H-AfrLitCine (February, 1998)

Angolan author Pepetela (Artur Carlos this family that Pepetela chronicles and explores Mauico Pestana Dos Santos) was awarded the the Angolan colonists and colonialism itself. Camoes Prize for Literature in Portuguese-speak‐ Alexandre's parents view themselves as Por‐ ing countries last year, placing Pepetela within tuguese. Alexandre's father was exiled from Por‐ the top rank of Portuguese-language writers. tugal and banished to for killing his wife Thanks to the eforts of several translators, with an axe, though he denies that and claims he Pepetela's works are becoming increasingly avail‐ was exiled for his republican views. Alexandre's able to the English-speaking world as well. Read‐ mother "may have ... been the frst white woman ers and educators interested in adding Angolan to be born in Capangombe," a settlement in which literature to their libraries and courses may well there were "about a hundred white families, consider the recent translation of Pepetela's Yaka, mostly ex-convicts" (p. 5).[1] translated by Marga Holness. While Alexandre was born in Angola, like This translation appears to work quite well as most colonists and their Angolan-born descen‐ a faithful presentation of both the content and the dants, he attempts to build his life on the colonial style for which Pepetela is recognized. This novel framework and within that culture. Also like most will also be of interest to those who wish to un‐ colonists, Alexandre fears the native Angolans derstand colonialism in Angola. Published in and cowers in fear whenever rumor of an upris‐ 1984, Yaka presents a fne study of Angolan histo‐ ing reaches a colonial settlement. However, ry from 1890 to 1975, years tracing Angola's Alexandre also fnds the native Angolans intrigu‐ movement from Portuguese colony to indepen‐ ing, especially the women. Alexandre attempts to dent nation. bridge the gulf between the colonist and the na‐ At the center of Yaka is the family of Alexan‐ tive cultures, something he seems to have been dre Semedo. It is through the microcosm of the destined to do from birth, when he was acciden‐ lives and the psyches of several generations of tally dropped and his "mouth closed when he bit H-Net Reviews the earth" (p. 3). Through this mouthful of earth, Only with the coming of age of Alexandre's Alexandre appears to become a child of Angola. grandchildren and great-grandchildren does the He inherits from his father a meter high Yaka stat‐ prospect of a new Angola emerge. One of those ue, described by Alexandre as having "transpar‐ great-grandchildren is Joel, the only person to ent eyes and three parallel stripes, white, black whom Alexandre speaks after ten years of silence. and red" and "the face ... looking sometimes hu‐ Joel, Alexandre senses, seems to understand what man and sometimes like an animal. The bulbous his parents, aunts, and uncles know not at all and nose looks like a drunkard's and gives a mocking what Alexandre seeks to know--the secret the look to the whole" (p. 16). Yaka statue knows. The other, a grandson named Alexandre puzzles upon and talks to the Yaka Chico, is the son of Alexandre's black illegitimate statue throughout his life because for him it has daughter. When Chico, now a young adult, shows come to possess the secret to understanding of up at the Semedo home, Alexandre acknowledges something, perhaps how the colonist and Angolan him, thus resulting in Alexandre's frst successful people and cultures can become one. But the stat‐ attempt to cross the boundary between himself ue never reveals its secrets to Alexandre, remains and his grandson, between colonist and Angolan. silent to his questions, but speaks to us readers. It is Joel and Chico who join with the Angolan For the most part, Alexandre and his of‐ guerillas to battle the colonial powers, while the spring conform to the expectations of the colonist rest of the extended family fee, with the excep‐ community. He marries a woman from Portugal tion of Alexandre, who refuses to leave. It is Joel (who is selected by his parents), attempts to run a who begins to explain to Alexandre the secret of business, acquires a large home and property, and the Yaka statue: "The statue represents a settler, produces a next generation of colonists who still Grandfather. Look at it. It's what the sculptor consider themselves Portuguese. His few attempts thought of the settlers. He ridiculed them. Look at at bridging the gulf between colonist and Angolan the nose. Stupid and ambitious" (p. 296). But Joel's amount to little more than collecting artifacts and explanation is that of the new Angolan both he attempting to procure an Angolan woman as a and Chico represent. mistress. The former brings him little understand‐ Only after Alexandre is alone in the sapalalo, ing, since the signifcance of the artifacts escapes his family having fed and Joel and Chico having him. The latter yields him rejection by one wom‐ joined the guerillas, does the Yaka statue speaks to an whom he seeks as a sexual partner and, from a Alexandre. Now Alexandre sees in the Yaka statue second woman, a mulatto daughter, whom he the struggle Chico and Joel have joined; he sees in never acknowledges, and a grandson, whom he it the end of colonialism and the beginning of the acknowledges only late in life, on the eve of Por‐ new Angola in which Joel "will be adopted by the tuguese power and the morning of the Angolan Cuvales and they will fght a guerilla war that will people's struggle for independence. be famous .... The invaders will retreat, driven Not only Alexandre, but also and even more back ....": his sons and daughters and their mates represent Your generation will be the last .... Only now the corruption of colonialism at its worst. They do you understand. And you were a big imposter. exploit the Angolan people as laborers on the You robbed in the shop but criticized the situation lands stolen from the natives. They tremble at ev‐ to allay the remorse I made you feel. ery rumor of native uprisings. They rape, maim, The earth Alexandre Semedo's mouth bites and kill in the name of their mother country. tastes good to him. It is the smell of soil wet with morning dew ... (p. 302).

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So, with the end of Alexandre Semedo, with mingled with the curious and startled glances of his second mouthful of earth, Pepetela closes the the gazelles and the sudden halt of blue lizards chapter of colonialism and opens through Joel nodding their heads. and Chico the beginning of the struggle for inde‐ I waited for the unique shower, perhaps with‐ pendence. out water, that would join mouth to eyes and legs In addition to being a fne study of the men‐ to genitals, still separate in mistrust. Would this tality of the colonist and the struggle of the fulfl the augury read in the goat's intestines colonist to understand and become a part of a which combined the sound of rain with music new world, this translation of Yaka also appears that was strange, new, but so very much ours? to capture Pepetela's ability as stylist and myth‐ I saw the baby's mouth bite the dry earth. Did maker, though only the linguistic specialist can it bite or kiss it? speak authoritatively on these matters. Was that bite-kiss an evening rainbow trailing Pepetela's prose takes on lyric qualities in a shower of music, or merely a tuft of grass in many passages--like those cited above--and in oth‐ which a knot is made to bind the coming of what ers, such as the novel's opening in which Pepetela has been announced? announces not only the birth of Alexandre Seme‐ I have yet to see. And tell whoever under‐ do but also that which his birth signifes--the stands. Sufering. (pp. 8-9) detrimental impact of colonialism on native Ango‐ la: Another powerful element of Pepetela's style is his mythmaking. According to Clive Willis, Alexandre Semedo's frst wail sounded in Cu‐ Pepetela uses elements of Greek myth as symbols vale territory. of colonial prejudice and the Angolan artifacts (e. It had the efect of a gunshot. Monkeys leapt g., the Yaka statue and a dagger) as symbols of in‐ from crags and were lost in the branches of digenous culture.[2] Of course, the strongest of swollen baobabs. Birds of every hue availed them‐ these mythical symbols is the Yaka statue itself, selves of it to vanish beyond the Serra da Chela embodying perhaps the stupidity and ignorance mountain range. Bush goats, zebras, even leop‐ of colonialism (as Joel sees it), the end of colonial‐ ards, all hid in the folds of the Serra. Lizards and ism and the emergence of the new Angola, or, snakes slithered their sinuous bodies into holes more likely, both of these. and behind rocks. Another example of such symbolism occurs There remained in the air the echo of the wail in Pepetela's use of other Angolan artifacts. For and the fearful mantle of silence that followed the example, as the novel progresses, Alexandre col‐ violation. Long after Alexandre had spoken his lects various artifacts and then spends increasing‐ frst word, things and beings still looked at one ly large amounts of time in a room flled with another and looked out, waiting. (p. 3) these artifacts to indicate that that which is An‐ This same quality speaks to the reader golan is overpowering that which is colonial. This through the voice of the Yaka statue, commenting transcendence of the Angolan culminates in to us on the birth of Alexandre, of the coming of Alexandre's giving of the dagger to Joel as Joel is the colonists and the portent for Angola of that about to embark upon his role in the war for inde‐ coming of this new generation of Angolan-born pendence. whites: All told, this translation of Pepetela's Yaka I heard Alexandre Semedo's cry tear his shows it to be a fnely crafted and highly insight‐ mother's entrails and come into the light of day. I ful work. It won for Pepetela the National Prize

3 H-Net Reviews for Literature in 1985. Combined with the Camoes select bibliography containing most of the good Prize awarded to Pepetela last year, these awards resources on Pepetela. underscore the fact that Pepetela is a major fgure Notes among Angolan, African, Portuguese-language [1]. Angola became a Portuguese colony in the writers. ffteenth century and is the only African country Pepetela himself is Angolan-born to white to be used as a penal settlement. In addition to Portuguese colonist parents. He studied in , soldiers and ofcials, the nineteenth century , and prior to joining the MPLA as a white community included ex-convicts and politi‐ member of a Marxist guerrilla band. After An‐ cal exiles. A strict class system placed Portuguese- golan independence was achieved in 1975, born colonists as frst class whites and then de‐ Pepetela became Minister of Education, a post he scended to Angolan-born whites, those of mixed held until 1982. After being relieved of that ofce, blood, and those of purely indigenous Angolan Pepetela took a post as a professor of sociology at blood. the University of Angola, joined the board of di‐ [2]. "Pepetela." African Writers. Ed. Brian Cox. rectors of the Union of Angolan Writers, and be‐ New York: Scribners, 1997: 685-95. gan to dedicate more time to writing. His literary output in addition to Yaka includes Muana Pu Copyright (c) 1998 by H-Net, all rights re‐ (written in 1969; published in 1978), a prose alle‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft gory of the Angolan war of independence; May‐ educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ ombe (written in 1971 and published 1980), a nov‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ el that is a study of a Marxist guerrilla band oper‐ tact [email protected]. ating in the Mayombe forest of ; Ngunga's Adventures: A Story of Angola, a novella published in mimeograph in 1973; the play A cor‐ da (The rope), 1978; a second play A revolta da casa dos idolos (The revolt of the house of idols, 1980; O cno e os Caluandas (The dog and the peo‐ ple of ), an episodic novel written and published in 1985; Lueji, a novel based on oral traditions of the Lunda Empire, published in 1990; A geran da utopia (The utopia generation), a novel published in 1992; and O desejo de Kianda (The desire of Kianda), a story published in 1995. In addition to Yaka, both Ngunga's Adventures and Mayombe, along with several other of his works, have been translated into English. While many resources dealing with Pepetela and his works are available in Portuguese lan‐ guage publications, the number in English is a scant few. A very good introduction to Pepetela and his works for English-speaking individuals is that by Clive Willis. Willis' study also includes a

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