Senses of Identity in A Chain of Voices and The Madonna of Excelsior

Abstract

Identity in recent South African fiction, much like the transformation of every aspect of the country's social, cultural, political and economic spheres, is under scrutiny. Nine years after the seminal year of 1994, South Africa is a country reimagining and remaking itself. This constant scrutiny as to what the possible futures of South Africa could be, with what possible moral values and mores, is a field ripe for the creative writer to exploit, to chart possible ways in which 350 years of contestations can be remade. To have a polity and a state to which one belongs is, in modern history, to be able to assert aspects of (cultural) identity that go beyond the tenuous bonds of "race".
The South African contestations with race, history and power have almost always determined the limits and limitations of much of its literary responses. Writers as diverse as Alan Paton (1953), J.M. Coetzee (1999),1 Andre P. Brink (1982) and quite recently Zakes Mda (2002), have worked on this aspect. These writers attempt, with varying degrees of success, to point out the contentious aspect of South Africa with regard to two dominant "races" being able to accommodate and live harmoniously with one another. It is this theme that I highlight in this article with specific reference to Zakes Mda's The Madonna of Excelsior (2002).

Opsomming

Die kwessie van identiteit in die onlangse Suid-Afrikaanse fiksie, nes die trans­formasie van feitlik elke aspek van die land se sosiale, kulturele, politieke en ekonomiese sfere, word onder die soeklig geplaas. Nege jaar sedert die seminale jaar 1994, is Suid-Afrika besig met sy eie herverbeelding ("reimagining") en hervorming ("remaking"). 'n Volgehoue ondersoek na wat die toekoms met watter moontlike morele waardes en gewoontes ook al moontlik vir die land inhou, bied aan die kreatiewe skrywer heelwat geleenthede om die wyses waarop 350 jaar se geskille bygele kan word, te ondersoek. Om 'n staatsbestel en 'n land te he waaraan mens behoort, is, in die moderne tyd, die vermoe om sekere aspekte van kulturele identiteit te laat geld wat verder strek as die verbondenheid aan "ras". Die Suid­Afrikaanse worsteling met ras, geskiedenis en mag het feitlik nog altyd die be­perkings van sy literere response bepaal. Uiteenlopende skrywers soos Alan Paton (1953), J.M. Coetzee (1999), Andre P. Brink (1982) en meer onlangs Zakes Mda (2002) het hierdie kwessie ondersoek. Hierdie skrywers probeer, met 'n wisselende graad van sukses, om die kwessie in Suid-Afrika rakende die twee dominante "rasse" wat probeer om mekaar te akkommodeer en met mekaar saam te leef, te beskryf. Dit is hierdie tema wat in hierdie artikel toegelig word met spesifieke verwysing na Zakes Mda se The Madonna of Excelsior (2002).