The rediscovery of the ordinary: some new writings in South Africa

The history of Black South African literature has largely been the history of the representation of spectacle. The visible symbols of the overwhelmingly oppressive South African social formation appear to have prompted over the years the development of a highly dramatic, highly demonstrative form of literary representation. One is reminded here of Roland Barthes's essay on wrestling. Some of Barthes's observations on the wrestling match seem particularly apposite. 'The virtue of all-in wrestling,' Barthes opens his essay, 'is that it is the spectacle of excess.' 2 It is the manifest display of violence and brutality that captures the imaginations of the spectators. Indeed, we have seen the highly organized spectacle of the political wrestling match of the South African social formation. Everything there has been mind-bogglingly spectacular: the monstrous war machine developed over the years; the random massive pass raids; mass shootings and killings; mass economic exploitation the ultimate symbol of which is the mining industry; the mass removals of people; the spate of draconian laws passed with the spectacle of parliamentary promulgations; the luxurious life-style of whites: servants, all encompassing privilege, swimming pools, and high commodity consumption; the sprawling monotony of architecture in African locations, which are the very picture of poverty and oppression. The symbols are all over: the quintessence of obscene social exhibitionism. And at the centre of it all, are the main actors: the aggressive Boer who has taken three centuries to develop the characteristics of the massive wrestler. It could be said, therefore, that the most outstanding feature of South African oppression is its brazen, exhibitionist openness. It is no wonder then, that the Black writer, sometimes a direct victim, sometimes a spectator, should have his imagination almost totally engaged by the spectacle before him.