My recent reading of Return Ticket by Jon Doust triggered my impulse to pick up The Heart of Redness, a celebrated novel by South African novelist Zakes Mda. In Doust's novel, South Africa in the apartheid years is vividly depicted, and the narrator exemplifies the psychological disconnect experienced when living in a society that is fundamentally immoral. Life as a privileged white man becomes unendurable, and he leaves, because he can. But what if it's not possible to leave, and if one feels a moral obligation to make a difference, even if it's risky? People struggle with this dilemma all over the world, in regimes from the Middle East to Latin America to newly nationalist places in Europe, and yes, in Australia too, if one feels anguished about Indigenous issues or the treatment of refugees or the inaction on climate change.

Zakes Mda's novel is set in two time frames. It begins in the very early years of majority government in South Africa when the country was bedevilled by transition issues and the collapse of unrealistic expectations for greater equity. But it also harks back to the 19th century when a fatal prophecy that sparked a failed independence movement and widespread starvation, led to a rift between the Believers and Unbelievers, which persists in the present day as a rift between pro- and anti-development forces in a rural community called Qolorha. Wikipedia sums it up like this:

The Heart of Redness, Mda's third novel, is inspired by the history of Nongqawuse, a Xhosa prophetess whose prophecies catalyzed the Cattle Killing of 1856–1857. Xhosa culture split between Believers and Unbelievers, adding to existing social strain, famine and social breakdown. It is believed that 20,000 people died of starvation during that time. In the novel, Mda continually shifts back and forth between the present day and the time of Nongqawuse to show the complex interplay between history and myth. He dramatizes the uncertain future of a culture whose troubled relationship with the colonizing force of Empire, as well as their own civil factions, threatens to extinguish their home of Qolorha-by-Sea. (Wikipedia, Zakes Mda page, viewed 27/1/20)

As 1001 Books says:

In the mid 1850s during the devastation of the British 'scorched earth' policies, the prophetess Nigqawuse claimed to have been visited by her ancestors who promised that if the Xhoas killed their cattle and burned their crops, the British would be defeated. Thus began an extraordinary episode in which the Xhosa were split between the Believers, those who were determined to follow the prophesies and destroy their means of survival, and those that would not.

Mda brings this story together with a modern tale of a return to contemporary South Africa, where the promises of deliverance are now through tourism and development and the destruction of heritage rather than cattle and crops. (1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, 2006 edition, p. 897)

he central character Camagu has, like Zakes Mda himself at the time of writing this novel, returned from years living abroad. As a stranger, he is able to observe events while trying not to become embroiled in the factions. Amongst the villagers, some respect his learning and his knowledge of a wider world while others despise him for abandoning his traditions and not understanding what life is really like in rural South Africa. His own personal conflicts are exemplified by his attraction to the impressive but emotionally distant Xoliswa Ximaya, just promoted to the position of principal at the high school but with ambitions to become a bureaucrat in the education ministry, and to the wild, wilful and sensual Qukezwa, who works as a cleaner at the Vulindlela Trading Store.

The conflict in the community is about the proposal to develop a casino and water playground for tourists. The Unbelievers support this because there is the promise of jobs, and the lure of bringing 'civilisation' to a village that has only just got a proper water supply but still lacks electricity. The Believers object to it because they want their traditions to continue, and they suspect that the only jobs will be the menial jobs that no one else will do. Already they are the cleaners and the child minders at the village's one hotel, and they don't want more of that. They also suspect that once the water playground is operational, they will excluded from the beach where seafood forms part of the food supply.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/01/27/the-heart-of-redness-by-zakes-mda/ ( )

Read during Summer 2004

My first impression was that I was never going to know who was who in the maze of characters but I ended up thoroughly enjoying the novel. The story line shifts between modern South Africa and the time when the Brittish began to conquoer and colonize and follows one family that splits bewteen the Believers and Non-Believers. The Believers follow a prophetess who tells them to kill their cattle, destroy their grain, and wait for the coming of the anscestors. The Brittish try to play these groups off each other and the struggle continues into modern South Africa and attempts to bring a gambling touirst spot to the village. The tug between Western and traditional cultures is part of the struggle but also who is able to speak for the village or what is progress for the village. Worth getting over the slightly scattered start.

A worthwhile but not particularly enjoyable read. A novel based on the history and society of South Africa told from a xhosa point of view. But it's too dry and uninvolving. The characters aren't fleshed out. It relies too much on xhosa folklore for its plot. I expect it would be more popular with people who know more about the country. ( )

This is the parallel story of colonized South Africa of 150 years ago and post-apartheid South Africa. 150 years ago, two brothers split over their different beliefs of a teenage prophetess' warning that only the slaughtering of all cattle will allow the new generation of people (the ancestors) to arrive and drive away the whites. The miracle never happened, of course, and many starved as a result.

Now in the present day, the learned man Camagu, born in South Africa but exiled and educated in America, comes to Qolorha-at-Sea, where he lands in the middle of an ongoing battle between the Believers and Unbelievers about whether the development of the lands by the whites' companies is good for their village. There is also a mysterious yet satisfying love story.

Heart of Redness is beautifully written, and Zakes Mda has been compared to the likes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Chinua Achebe. This is a book that you will devour because it's so well written, and yet it will stay with you as you ponder the pros and cons of the characters' situations. ( )