Theme of Sexuality in André Brink 's Other Lives
Brink’s Other Lives: A Rewriting of history through eroticism
The dissident writer 's preeminent role, as Brink sees it, is to "explore and expose the roots of the human condition as it is lived in South Africa: (..) With the fundamentals of human experience and relationships"(Mapmakers 152). That is to say, he aims, through narrating and referring to kinships, mainly sensual ones, at unveiling the racial practices of the past apartheid system which is, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary and thesaurus, defined as “a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of So. Africa” in doing so, he makes use of erotic scenes between black and white people of both sexes. This essay tackles Brink’s choice to make use of erotic fiction as an inventive way of writing history. Also, it deals with sexuality, in this particular novel, which stands as an epitome for racial, colonial and political relationships between black and white people, as well as the numerous interpretations of the coitus either through symbolism or feminism or psychoanalysis.
According to Brink “the author’s reinvention of history would involve a choice between two kinds of concepts, two ends on a sliding scale: namely, history as fact and history as fiction." He opts for fiction in this novel to rewrite the history of South Africa: “In forthcoming novels I shall be trying to get more and more of an imaginative grasp on reality, to invent history”, so that he lays naked the remainders of the post-apartheid system in an innovative style, skillfully inserting here and there several incidents, including sexual relations, that may be real or even personal, encompassing and resuming the aftermaths of the colonial experience. Brink’s answer to the inevitable question:” Why re-sort to fiction? Why reduce history to storytelling?” is summarized in Russell Hoban’s famous dictum:" We make fiction
The dissident writer 's preeminent role, as Brink sees it, is to "explore and expose the roots of the human condition as it is lived in South Africa: (..) With the fundamentals of human experience and relationships"(Mapmakers 152). That is to say, he aims, through narrating and referring to kinships, mainly sensual ones, at unveiling the racial practices of the past apartheid system which is, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary and thesaurus, defined as “a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of So. Africa” in doing so, he makes use of erotic scenes between black and white people of both sexes. This essay tackles Brink’s choice to make use of erotic fiction as an inventive way of writing history. Also, it deals with sexuality, in this particular novel, which stands as an epitome for racial, colonial and political relationships between black and white people, as well as the numerous interpretations of the coitus either through symbolism or feminism or psychoanalysis.
According to Brink “the author’s reinvention of history would involve a choice between two kinds of concepts, two ends on a sliding scale: namely, history as fact and history as fiction." He opts for fiction in this novel to rewrite the history of South Africa: “In forthcoming novels I shall be trying to get more and more of an imaginative grasp on reality, to invent history”, so that he lays naked the remainders of the post-apartheid system in an innovative style, skillfully inserting here and there several incidents, including sexual relations, that may be real or even personal, encompassing and resuming the aftermaths of the colonial experience. Brink’s answer to the inevitable question:” Why re-sort to fiction? Why reduce history to storytelling?” is summarized in Russell Hoban’s famous dictum:" We make fiction
References: 1-“Reinventing a Continent (Revisiting History in the Literature of the New South Africa: A Personal Testimony)” By André Brink 2-“Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” by Jessica Hale 3-“CONCEPTUALIZING SEXUALITY: FROM KINSEY TO QUEER AND BEYOND” 4-“An Ornithology of Sexual Politics: Lewis Nkosi 's Mating Birds” by André Brink 5-“André Brink and Malraux” by Isidore Diala 6-“PORNOGRAPHY ( VS) EROTIC FICTION (aka Why I Continue To Do What I Do)” By Jess C Scott, 9 Mar 2011 -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. In her article “PORNOGRAPHY VS. EROTIC FICTION”, Jess C Scott gives a definition of erotic literature saying that: ” it comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. The emphasis of each is quite different. Porn 's main purpose is to make money via adult entertainment; erotic literature tells a story. Stories that are realistic. Stories that make one think. Stories that "dive into the depths of navigating gender, sexuality, and the lines of desire" (blurb from my first erotic anthology, 4:Play). She illustrates her viewpoint by referring to Nabokov in the same Article explaining that “Mr. Vladimir Nabokov said so succinctly in an essay on Lolita, ". . .Lolita has no moral in tow. For me, a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall call aesthetic bliss. . ."He also writes that "in pornographic novels, action has to be limited to the copulation of clichés. Style, structure, imagery should never distract the reader from his tepid lust. The novel must consist of an alternation of sexual scenes." Ultimately, She draws this conclusion: Lolita is more than a pornographic novel. Erotic literature is more than pornographic writing.”