A Chain of Voices and Unconfessed: Novels of Slavery in the 1980s and in the Present Day

Abstract

Andre Brink's novel A Chain of Voices (1982) and Yvette Christianse's Unconfessed (2006) both focus on the lives of Cape slaves in the period 1808-1835. A Chain of Voices fictionalises the Galant revolt of 1825; Unconfessed presents the life of a slave woman and the efforts of her owners to conceal the illegality of her enslave­ment. Though Brink presents all the slaves on the farm Houd-den-bek, including women, these last are accepting of their fate, which they are willing to palliate by accepting a sexual relationship with the white farmer. In Unconfessed the prota­gonist sees such relationships as rapes and fights for the freedom which has been officially granted to her. In both novels access to consciousness is all-important, but Brink uses a large and diverse group of individuals to relate circumstances and comment on character; Christianse locates her novel, for the most part, in the (historically unheard) voice of Sila, a woman slave, who tells her dead son of her sufferings and humiliations.

Opsomming

Andre Brink se roman, A Chain of Voices (1982) en Unconfessed (2006) deur Yvette Christianse het albei as onderwerp die lewens van slawe aan die Kaap in die periode 1808 tot 1835. A Chain of Voices fiksionaliseer die Galantopstand van 1825; Unconfessed verhaal die !ewe van 'n slawevrou en haar eienaars se pogings om die onwettigheid van haar slaafskap te verberg. Alhoewel al die slawe op Houd-den-bek in Brink se roman 'n rol speel, is dit die vroue wat hul lot probeer versag deur 'n bereidwilligheid om seksuele verhoudings met wit boere aan te knoop. In Un­confessed sien die hoofkarakter sulke verhoudings eerder as verkragtings en veg sy vir die vryheid wat wetlik aan haar toegestaan is. In albei romans is toegang tot die innerlike van die karakters baie belangrik. Brink benut die belewenisse van 'n verskeidenheid figure om die omstandighede en die karakters uit te beeld; daaren­teen gebruik Christianse hoofsaaklik die (histories verswee) stem van Sila, 'n slawe­vrou wat haar oorlede seun vertel van haar ontberings en vernederings.