Cape Of Storms, Chaka, And Waiting On The Barbarians: The Importance Of Historical Fiction Even Through Its Embellished Renderings

Historical novels provide entertainment for a larger audience but still account some accurate historical context making them an excellent source for academic study. While there is sometime blatant disregard for factual history, much of the early history of South Africa is very limited. Because of this, novels that coincide with historical figures and events will often create their own flair to further the plot and add more detail. Aside from coinciding with history, these fictitious novels spark a new found enthusiasm for history that is much more digestible than a 150-page research paper. While embellished for entertainment, driving the plot, and lack of context, there is still an abundance of historical accuracy that lets us recount a much different time. Historical fiction allows us to be connected to the past through human emotion and story, cultivating a new understanding of a very different time, place, culture, and society. As a whole, the art of storytelling is at the very least a connection that all humans have in one way or another since our very existence. While we don’t read Cape of Storms literally, through the satirical recount of new people in their land, we see the importance of tradition and a way of life T`kama, a Khoikhoi chief, experiences. The account of the bloodthirsty leader, Chaka, portrays the life of the Zulu leader and his struggle for a never ending power quest giving us insight to the destruction and terror he brought. Waiting for the Barbarians, gives us more of an account of the time of colonialism rather than an actual instance in history. Through each historical novel, we obtain a glimpse into the past and the emotion from it creates a relatable entertaining historical account that helps readers of all levels obtain a new historical perspective.

Cape of Storms, by Andre Brink, depicts the impossible love story of a European woman left behind and a Khoikhoi chief named T’Kama. The drastic difference of cultures, language, and overall understandings lead to a painfully satirical adventure of the two attempting to cultivate love. T’Kama seems infatuated with the woman, Khoi, and is beyond sexually driven. But the painful irony of the situation is that he is enormous, making it impossible to partake in coitus with his wife, much to his frustration. While clearly this part of the story is greatly embellished it plays on stereotypes as well as creates a metaphor for being. T’Kama underwent a magical downsizing to a clay prosthetic member in order to please his wife after the traumatic event of having his “bird” consumed by a crocodile; “in front of my eyes I saw the river turn to red. I heard the crocodile thrashing in the water with its tail. At that stage I felt no pain. But I did not need pain to tell me what I knew: my bird had been snapped right off.” I believe this is a subtle hint at the Khoikhoi people loosing who they are in order to interact with the Europeans to come. Meaning that the male genitalia is very much an identity of T’Kama and of all men but on a broader term this instance expands on the idea of giving something that held honor and a profuse source of pride and altering it for the white people rendering it less special. T’Kama goes on to say, surely no man can survive a catastrophe like that: I had lost the greater part of my body.” While this holds no historical accuracy, the funny idea behind it actually holds some merit as a metaphor that deepens the readers understanding and foreshadowing of what is to come for the Khoikhoi people.

In a more spelled out case is Chaka, of the Zulu people. The violent uptake of a never ending power hunt known as the Mfecane occurred in the early 1800s. While the brutality and violence that ensued is very much accurate the becoming of Chaka is a bit less magical. In Chaka, Chaka obtains this thirst for power and dominance through magic and witchcraft from Isanusi. While Mofolo doesn’t claim to be accurate in representing Chaka’s life he does present an accurate representation of all his heinous doings, “it’s not our purpose to recount all the affairs of his life… only one part that suits our present purpose.” Mofolo also alludes accurately to the vast number of warriors Chaka has at his disposal, “the number of his warriors was equal to the stars in the sky” which corresponds to the forty thousand or so men he could produce which lead to the vast displacement of people fleeing into the interior to escape his brutal hand.

Waiting for the Barbarians depicts a nameless empire in a nameless territory colonizing the area and settling lands held by native peoples. The cruelty in the rendition of the time is not lost under Coronel Joll and his cruel torture of the barbarians. The unnamed magistrate has his own feelings towards the barbarians, a girl in particular; questioning why he is so sexually attracted to. This account greatly follows that of the colonization of the interior and the superiority of the white men over the so-called barbarians. However, the magistrate’s views shift, “I wish that these barbarians would rise up and teach us a lesson, so that we would learn to respect them. We think of the country here as ours, part of our Empire — our outpost, our settlement, our market center. But these people, these barbarians don’t think of it like that at all. We have been here more than a hundred years, we have reclaimed land from the desert and built irrigation works and planted fields and built solid homes and put a wall around our town, but they still think of us as visitors, transients” He seems to have a deeper understanding of the forced intrusion on the interior stating that, “They want an end to the spread of settlements across their land. They want their land back, finally. They want to be free to move about with their flocks from pasture to pasture as they used to.”

The compilation of the novels, Cape of Storms, Chaka, and Waiting for the Barbarians, all add to the experience of leaning about the cruel and forced colonization of South Africa. The overall development from the first colonization of the Cape by the Dutch under Jan Van Riebeeck in 1652 which was limited and intentionally non-confrontational. To the development and expansion of the “trekboers” into the interior which was made more feasible due to the decline of the Khoikhoi. Then the arrival of the British in 1795 which eventually leads to major military intervention against the Xhosa, and the ultimate start of the division of society. Once the stratification of society was in further effect we see the rising need for slaves and thus again a push into the interior to find them. Which brings us to the Mfecane and the brutality that followed under Chaka. Through the timeline roughly outlined the novels add to the greater picture that history paints us. While not necessarily historically accurate, the demonstration of a fictional real life example adds to the overall understanding making them a very useful supplemental tool for academic study.