De-scribing the Centre: Satiric and Postcolonial Strategies in The Madonna of Excelsior

Abstract

In The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) Zakes Mda makes use of both satiric and postcolonial strategies to create discursive fissures within colonial discourses, with a strong focus on issues of race and the Immorality Act in particular. This essay explores the nature of both satire and postcolonialism as dialogic, heteroglossic textual forms which serve to liberate the subject from the power of hegemonic language, contrasting satire and postcolonialism, and looking at the praxis and the ethics of both discourses in relation to Mda's novel. The essay also points to important contrasts between the two discourses, particularly in the way they deal with identity and language, each of them engaging with social and linguistic issues in ways that evoke differing narratives. It is suggested that postcolonial discourse differs from satiric discourse in the specificity of its commitment to ethical issues, while satire’s stance is a less well-defined one, more detached because of the ironic weight which satire carries. Satiric theorists mirror this by showing a detachment that differentiates their narratives from the theoretical discourses of postcolonialism, which are often marked by differences and tensions between various theorists.

Opsomming

In The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) maak Zakes Mda gebruik van satiriese sowel as postkoloniale strategieë om diskursiewe breuke binne die koloniale diskoers te skep, met ’n sterk fokus op rassekwessies en spesifiek op die Ontugwet. Hierdie essay stel ondersoek in na die aard van beide satire en postkolonialisme as dialogiese, heteroglossiewe teksvorme wat die onderwerp wil bevry van die mag van hegemoniese taalgebruik. Satire en postkolonialisme word teenoor mekaar gestel en die praktiese toepassing en etiek van beide diskoerse word ondersoek met betrekking tot Mda se roman. Die essay dui ook op belangrike verskille tussen die twee diskoerse, veral in die wyse waarop identiteit en taal hanteer word, en ook op die wyse waarop beide diskoerse sosiale en linguistiese vraagstukke op maniere hanteer wat verskillende vertelwyses ontlok. Daar word te kenne gegee dat die postkoloniale diskoers van die satiriese diskoers verskil ten opsigte van die wyse waarop eersgenoemde hom spesifiek verbind tot etiese vraagstukke, terwyl die uitgangspunt van satire minder duidelik omskrewe en meer afstandig is, as gevolg van die ironiese gewig wat satire dra.