A Stranger in the Country of His Birth: The White Man’s Predicament in The New South Africa as Portrayed in John Conyngham’s The Lostness of Alice

Abstract

This article evaluates the former white settlers’ position and experience in South Africa, Africa and Europe as represented by the English male protagonist who features in The Lostness of Alice (1998) by John Conyngham. It is argued that the legacy of the colonisation of Africa and apartheid in South Africa have given rise to suspicion and resentment that still influences the settler descendants’ perception of self and the other. After the inauguration of a black-majority government, contemporary white South African men, as exemplified by the protagonist, are no longer able to configure their subjectivity as “master of the estate” (estate denoting the country) and in opposition to others. Aware of their minority status and their contradictory non-African identity, they tend to dissociate themselves from the country and African continent as home. As borderline figures, they experience disquiet and distress as well as a sense of loss in terms of physical orientation and belonging. In a bid to discover identity and meaning outside conventional parameters, they explore different spaces by way of traveling. The novel is critically analysed in terms of the protagonist’s experience of the concepts of space and place, the presence and transgression of boundaries, and the influence of these paradigms on his sense of self and his relationship with others and society at large. The narrative strategy of intertextuality in relation to the myths of Africa is also investigated.

Opsomming

Hierdie artikel evalueer die voormalige blanke setlaars se posisie en ervaring in Suid-Afrika, Afrika en Europa, soos verteenwoordig deur die Engelse manlike hoofkarakter wat figureer in The Lostness of Alice (1998) deur John Conyngham. Daar word aangevoer dat die nalatenskap van die kolonisasie van Afrika en apartheid in Suid-Afrika aanleiding gegee het tot agterdog en wrewel wat steeds die die setlaarafstammelinge se persepsie van die self en die ander beïnvloed. Na die inhuldiging van ’n swart meerderheidsregering, is hedendaagse wit Suid-Afrikaanse mans, soos vergestalt deur die hoofkarakter, nie meer in staat om hul subjektiwiteit te konfigureer as “meester van die landgoed” (landgoed duidend op die land) en in teenstelling met die ander nie. Bewus van hul minderheidstatus en teenstrydige identiteit as nie-Afrikane, neig hulle om hulself te distansieer van die land en Afrika-kontinent as tuiste. As randfigure, ervaar hulle verontrusting en onsekerheid asook ’n gevoel van verlies in terme van fisiese oriëntasie en behorendheid. In ’n poging om identiteit en betekenis buite konvensionele parameters te ontdek, verken hulle verskillende ruimtes deur middel van reis. Die roman is krities ontleed ooreenkomstig die hoofkarakter se ervaring van die begrippe van ruimte en plek, die teenwoordigheid en oorbrugging van grense, en die invloed van hierdie paradigmas op sy sin van self, sy verhouding met ander en die samelewing in die algemeen. Die narratiewe strategie van intertekstualiteit met betrekking tot die mites van Afrika word ook ondersoek.