Op zoek naar Afrika: Over Begging to Be Black van Antjie Krog en andere recent verschenen autobiografische teksten van Afrikaanse auteurs
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Date
2012
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Department of Dutch and South African Studies, Faculty of English
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Abstract
In Afrikaans life writing the most influential factors determining an individual’s life are of a social and political nature. Recently five autobiographical texts by Afrikaans
authors have appeared, namely Sonkyker: Afrikaner in die verkeerde eeu (2008) by J.C. Steyn, Reisiger: Die Limietberge oor (2009) by Elsa Joubert, ‘n Vurk in die pad: ‘n Memoir (2009) by André P. Brink, A Veil of Footsteps: Memoir of a Nomadic Fictional Character (2008) by Breyten
Breytenbach and Begging to Be Black (2009) by Antjie Krog. They differ substantially in style, content and approach. Steyn, Breytenbach, Joubert, Brink, and Krog tell their own individual stories, which document the close relationship between their lives, their values and literary works. Begging to Be Black by Antjie Krog is the most challenging in its recommendations and the most controversial in its argumentation. One of three main
narratives in this patchwork book recounts a murder case in the early nineties into which Krog got unwittingly drawn and about which she published Relaas van ‘n moord (1995). Although Krog’s account of her involvement in the murder case remains basically the same, there are, however, a number of crucial differences. Krog describes the murder case from an altogether different perspective. While in Relaas van ‘n moord she unequivocally
states that murder is in all circumstances morally wrong, she now concludes, on the basis of her acceptance of the African ‘interconnectedness-towards-wholeness’ world view, that murder is permissible if it is to the benefit of society. This new interpretation is very problematic and raises a number of fundamental questions. Moreover, the fact that Krog provides a new version of the murder of the Wheetie turns the account of what happened into a product of the writer’s imagination, which also undermines the credibility of the
other narrative threads in Begging to Be Black. Begging to Be Black, in spite of its serious shortcomings, clearly demonstrates, along with the four other autobiographical texts, that the identity of Afrikaans authors is largely determined by their commitment to the society in which they have been living.
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Keywords
life writing, autobiography, Antjie Krog, South Africa, ubuntu, ethics, interconnectedness
Citation
Werkwinkel vol. 7(1), 2012, pp. 73-95