Magic Realism and the Non-Human: Mapping Race, Gender and History in Andreʹ Brink’s Imaginings of Sand

Abstract: The idea of magic realism has come a long way since its origin in the realm of art, and the eventual manifestation as literary device through fiction. Magic realism is often used to subvert the monolithic concept of reality as well as to represent ideas that allude conventional and literal ways of meaning making. Magic realist texts employ the means of representation of animals to reach diverse ends in the stylistics of the texts, some of which include symbolism, allusions and anthropomorphism. In the contemporary South African fiction writers are adopting the magic realist mode of narration to reimagine the unofficial and silenced history of its land and people. Multiple colonisations and the subsequent racist regime of apartheid have created an extremely politically volatile and violent atmosphere in the country. Andreʹ Brink’s celebrated 1996 novel Imaginings of Sand expertly employs magic realism to uncover racial and ethnic plurality as well as to address the erasure of women from the narrative of South African nation making. Apart from the relics of the colonial ostrich farm depicted in the text, the novel is an imaginative exploration of oral folk narratives and women-animal-nature dynamics. With the aid of existing critical-theoretical frameworks of magic realism, animal studies, gender studies and postcolonialism, the present paper attempts to situate Imaginings of Sand, at the intersection of race, gender and animal studies.

Key words: Animal Studies, Birds, Race, Magic Realism, Non-human

The critical-theoretical discourse of ecocriticism, ecofeminism and animal studies have opened up a plethora of ways through which the world as well as the art and literature could be perceived and interpreted. The privileging of the human world at the cost of the non-human one has always been the framework through which all kinds of realities have been imagined and constructed. Western civilisation and theology have put men at the centre of all living things, and all living things are regarded valuable as long as they serve the needs of men. In this hierarchical relation, women feature lower and lesser than men. The nature/culture binary of western schools of thought attributes traditional values of femininity to nature and masculinity to culture. These imposed attributes translate to more such dichotomous ideas such as mind vs body and rational vs emotional. These qualities have been used to position men and women in opposition, and women in an inferior state to men since ages. The existing human-nature dichotomy, its ramifications and subversions are at the core of the enquiry of ecocriticism and animal studies. According to renowned scholar and activist Karen Davis, “…the boundaries we establish, abolish, or redefine, between human and nonhuman animals, are essentially arbitrary self-serving” (“Afterword” 225). Animal studies has effectively merged the concerns of various disciplines, be it environment, science, ethics, culture and literature. In fact, literature is merely a faction of the multidisciplinary field of animal studies, which examines the way human have been exploiting the non-human animals through various physical and cultural practices. Whereas, a major part of animal studies in the early years was about the relationship and confrontations of human and animal, with the advent of critical animal studies, there has been a shift of priorities to study animals independent of their relationship to men. Critical animal studies have emphasised the need of actively working to protect the animals from unethical treatment and scientific experiments as well as breeding. This intentionality of purpose and move to action rather than mere theorisation is the next revolution in the field of animal studies.

The ingenious narrative technique and genre of Magic Realism, revolutionised the way truth and reality are represented in fiction. The concept, which had its genesis in the German art scene in the early years of the twentieth century, dealt with a movement in painting which showed characteristics of fantasy, surrealism and dreamscape. This breaking away from conventional realist mode of painting subsequently influenced themes and narrative style in literature as well. Magic realism endows fiction an alternate reality, where normative rules of space, time and logic are broken or bent to explore other possibilities of being and representation. Magic realism also exploits existing modes of story-telling, that are found in folktales, fairytales and other oral narratives. Its juxtaposition of myths, magic, fantastical and surreal are useful tools to explore stories that defy the rigid realist mode of narration. Apart from decentring the western preoccupation with rationalism and realism, magic realism have influenced the way human history is understood and interpreted, “Because it shows the permeability of the border between history-writing and storytelling, magical realism lays bare the processes of reinvention and forgetting at work in historiography.” (Joseph-Vilain, “Magic Realism” 22). These characteristics of magic realism reveal two significant elements at the core of such texts, firstly the centring of the natural and the animal world through literal and metaphoric purposes and secondly entertaining the possibilities of alternate and peripheral histories. Nature in all its majestic and destructive glory along with the animals and birds are extensively used in magic realist texts. Similarly, the oral histories of communities embedded in the folktales and myths with their fantastic world and non-human characters are a focal point of magic realist text. Commenting on the ways magic realism creates space where human beings are not at the centre of subjectivity, Tanja Schwalm writes,

In both its subversive critique of Western anthropocentrism, hierarchical orderings, material power structures and hegemonic discourse, and in its recognition of nonhuman subjectivity through indigenous belief systems and the carnivalesque, magical realism is essentially a posthumanist mode of writing. (Animal Writing 7)

The critical and theoretical areas of animal studies and magic realism are crucial for interpreting the primary text discussed in this paper, Imaginings of Sand (1996), written by renowned South African author and activist André Brink. The history of South Africa is plagued by many socio-political conflicts stemming from the multiple colonisations by European forces and the infamous apartheid. Needless to say, racial tension was at the heart of South African history. However, the vast and fertile land of South Africa have been attracting myriad groups of people, since precolonial times. Subsequently, the discovery of limitless natural resources prompted the Dutch and the British colonialism. These encounters between the colonisers and the indigenous people, and later tradesmen and people of other colonies created the multi-ethnic and multicultural demographic in the country. The literary oeuvre of Andreʹ Brink, consisting both fiction and nonfiction reveal and intense and in-depth engagement with South Africa’s complicated and multilayered politics, history and civilisation.

Brink’s own position as a white South African writer of Dutch (Afrikaner) descent, is significant here, as he himself have dwelt on his location and responsibility as a writer. The Afrikaners were the descendants of the Dutch settlers and colonisers that came to South Africa in the seventeenth century. Although their initial interest was in farming and trade, by the nineteenth century those interests have translated to political ambitions. The term Afrikaner is now considered a political and ethnic identity, where along with the Dutch, German, Swedish and other European identities are also amalgamated. The apartheid period of racial segregation which privileged the rights of white people, from 1948 to 1994, were largely orchestrated by a majority Dutch South African or Afrikaner government. That is why writers, activists and other liberal thinkers of the community who work for racial parity are scrutinised for their predecessors’ involvement in the laws and policies of racial prejudice and crimes of human rights violation. Brink acknowledges his ancestors’ role in the racially divided society of South Africa, and vows to unearth hidden and silenced histories of the country through his writing. These alternate histories of cultural assimilation of the diverse communities are often found embedded in the oral tales and myths. Like the people who have carried them in their culture, these tales have a characteristic affinity with nature and the animal world. The majestically beautiful South African land and the biodiversity within have inspired economy, art and culture alike. In the post-apartheid period, several South African novelists tapped on these lesser explored areas as fodder for their work. Magic realism as mode of narration was increasingly being used in fiction not merely to represent the fantastical as Paulina Grzęda has observed “…magical realism can indeed be viewed as a narrative of reconciliation creating space for the interaction of difference in a still racially polarised South African society.” (“Magic Realism” 160). Andreʹ Brink who was deeply aware of the significance of bridging the gap between the past and the present to talk about the real South Africa, beyond the discourse of race has remarked on the significance of the magic realism as such,

…but a magic realism rooted in Africa, in the intense interaction between the ancestors and the living, in the world of the imagination and the world of the real, and the difficulty of distinguishing between these two. In this sense I think the South African and the African experience of magic realism – unfortunate word, really – is still potentially very fertile and still works, and one can see it as a very definite strand in our writing. (“Articulating” 15)

Brink’s Imaginings of Sand, is a nuanced and informed treatment of the histories of South African nation making and the ways to navigate post-apartheid racial reconciliation. The female protagonist Kristien, was called back to South Africa from her indefinite sojourn in London, because a part of her grandmother’s ancestral home was burnt down my miscreants, severely injuring her grandmother Ouma Kristina in the process. The family matriarch Ouma Kristina was adamant to see her expatriate granddaughter, because she deemed her the rightful heir, preserver and carrier of the family history. Kristien, however, had her own personal demons to fight before she took on the enormous responsibility. Kristien was appalled by the role of the Afrikaner in the racially segregated South Africa, being an Afrikaner herself, and left the country to join the anti-apartheid movement which was gaining momentum in London. She felt disarmed and defeated to work against the apartheid regime, and like many young liberal White South African, had decided to leave the country.

While Kristien took care of Ouma Kristina as she was fighting for her life after the burn injuries, Ouma began telling her the stories of the female ancestors of the family. These narrations conveyed to the readers through the devices of magic realism, ranged from what seemed plausible to the fantastic and surreal. The symbol of the family’s economic and social power, the outlandish and eccentric ‘Bird House’, was named after the very successful ostrich feather business run by the family. The ostrich farm and the feather business were at the core of the wealth and prosperity of the family. Ostrich feathers were a much sought after commodity in the nineteenth century, as the European countries had extensively used them in luxury fashion accessories. A. Boum and M. Bonine in their extensive research on the ostrich feather market notes ways the organic and humane farming trends as well as the presence of the Jewish feather merchants were instrumental in the growth of the market in South Africa and “Of note is that by the 1870s, South African merchants were starting to redirect world exports of ostrich feathers from the traditional North African ports (Mogador, Tripoli, and Cairo) towards Cape Town.” (“The Elegant” 8). However, it is revealed through Ouma’s narration and later historic accounts that the Afrikaner community chanced upon and practised the humane way of ostrich farming, rather than focussing on mere production. Julie O’Neill Kloo observes the way it has subverted the colonial western economic model,

That the impetus behind the Afrikaners’ decision to raise ostriches on the land is based on emotion and instinct, rather than the logic of capitalism, demonstrates a decision-making process not grounded in Western reason and economic theory, thus revealing cracks in the Western European colonial foundation of the house from the beginning. (The Architecture 90)

Birds and animals have shown to be women’s allies throughout the history of South Africa in the text. Whether it is mythical birds of fantastic abilities or the ostriches who gave prosperity to Ouma Kristina’s Afrikaner family. Kamma Maria, who belonged to the Khoisan indigenous tribe of South Africa, is the first in the line of female ancestors that Ouma recollects in her stories. She offered her virginity as a peace offering, to end the vicious conflict between the Boer Trekkers and her tribe. She escaped her fate that dreadful night of copulation, by mesmerising Adam Oosthuizen with her soulful voice. However, because she supposedly laid with someone outside her community, she was abandoned by her own tribe and she had to go with the Boers, “All she took with her was a couple of mahems, you know, those long-legged birds with the beautiful golden crowns” (Brink, Imaginings 179). This choice is significant, as these birds along with other animals whose language Kamma was well versed in, aided in her survival with the unfamiliar Boers.

Megan Condis, in her study of the racial stereotypes at play in the way Disney princess and their animal companions are imagined and presented, has observed the contrasting way human-animal interactions are shown in such films, based on the characters’ skin colour. For the white princesses the animal helpers were mere assistants or servants, on the other hand the black and the coloured princesses had animal companions who were far more vocal and on an almost equal footing with them. The culture vs nature dichotomy of the western thought, has been translated to the choice and nature of animal companions that the characters possess. For Kamma, the birds and the ants were there saving her from rape and isolation in a foreign culture, “There wasn’t an animal or a bird on those plains she did not speak to” (Imaginings 182). Centuries later, when her progenies have started domesticating the wild birds such as Ostriches, the role of the saviour has been reversed. The ethnically ambiguous ancestry of Ouma’s family and the architecturally eccentric Bird house with its juxtaposition of European, African and other aesthetics of design elements are representative of the inevitability of racial and cultural confluence,

The birds that have appropriated the house as their nesting-place, however, also blur the distinction between nature and culture. The story itself is embedded in the hieroglyphics of the landscape of South Africa, human history and natural signs intertwined in the unfolding story. (Horn and Horn, “Female Genealogies” 105)

Folklore, nature and the birds are intrinsically linked in the narrative of the novel. Even after the collapse of the feather market, the Bird House continued to shelter birds and other animals, both real and magical. In her hallucinations Ouma kept mentioning birds and her female ancestors. Birds have a special place in several religion. In Christian theology birds are often equated with angels, in fact imagination of Angels with wings bear a close resemblance to the image of a bird, “Those birds, people understood, could see better and further than them and could fly closer to Heaven than some people might ever be able.” (Bach, “Feathers, Wings” 65). In Imaginings of Sand, the souls of the dead women were shown to be reincarnated and living on through the birds. Ouma once declared to Kristien when she was a child, “Birds are the spirits of dead women” (Imaginings 237). Much later in life Kristien witnessed a huge flock of birds forming a cloud during Ouma’s funeral, as if they have descended to pay homage and include her in the spirit world. This seemed like a rites-of-passage for the character of Kristien as the magical birds of Ouma’s stories have finally entered Kristien’s, symbolising the transfer of the family’s heritage and stories. Through a meticulous process of meaning making, spanning centuries of cultural assimilation and women-nature-culture constructs Brink brings his text to a resolution of continued cultural and racial code mixing. Commenting on the enormous influence nature and animals have in his writing Brink has observed,

…literally talking out loud to the thorn trees, to the stones, to the lizards, and to the tortoises. I think that was where my writing started: the process of communication with the creatures and the things of nature, some of them alive, like the tortoises, some of them not alive, anyway not in a normal sense, like a stone for instance. – There may be many people who absolutely believe in the secret life of stones, but it is different from that of human beings. – All of that contributed to my awareness of a whole network of existence of which I felt a part (“Articulating” 9)

In the fictional universe created by Brink for Imaginings of Sand, the fantastical and mythical world of human-animal harmony and coexistence coalesce with the real and political world where there are stark division within the human world based on race, class and gender. Magic realism which fuses the narrative techniques of postmodernism and realism, the literary traditions of the different ethnicities existing in South Africa, the real with the imaginary, and the past with present, has the potential to be a worthy medium of reconciliation in the post-apartheid period. Through the device of magic realism Brink traced the historiography of South Africa, where many indigenous communities were living in congruence with the non-human natural world. Shohinee Roy observes how, “Magic realism, particularly epistemic magic realism, offers him the medium to map chaotic currents of race.” (Beyond 116). The indigenous people’s way of life, consumption patterns and belief system were not hostile towards the natural world order. These reflected in their culture and folk literature as well. Kamma Maria’s unadulterated intention of helping her community, and later her survival in the so called cultured and civilised society of the Boers was aided by the earthy folk songs and the animals, who could talk to her. Through Kamma Maria and Rachel’s fate of coerced miscegenation, Brink challenges the myth of racial purity and that of the founding fathers, both of which were at the core of the rhetoric which justified the apartheid regime. This vast span of time covering centuries, that the novel navigates, required a mode of expression that allowed such huge time shifts as well as narrative continuity. This was achieved through the birds that accompanied the female ancestors of Kristien throughout the ages. Apart from being a magic realist device, the non-human animal world of the novel, connects the characters to the South African ecosystem and indigenous ethos. Along with Kristien, the birds too are preservers and carriers of the past, connecting years of history to embark on the post-apartheid, democratic era of the new rainbow nation.

Works Cited

Bach, Rebecca Ann. “Feathers, Wings, and Souls”. Birds and Other Creatures in Renaissance Literature: Shakespeare, Descartes, and Animal Studies, Routledge, 2018, pp. 40-71.

Boum, Aomar & Michael Bonine. “The Elegant Plume: Ostrich Feathers, African Commercial Networks, and European Capitalism.” The Journal of North African Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, 2015, pp. 5–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2014.983733.

Brink, Andreʹʹ. “Articulating the Inarticulate: An Interview with André Brink.” Interview by Ewald Mengel. Trauma, Memory, and Narrative in South Africa: Interviews, edited by Ewald Mengel, Michela Borzaga and Karin Orantes, Rodopi, 2010, pp. 3-18.

———Imaginings of Sand. Harvest Book, 1999.

Condis, Megan. “She Was a Beautiful Girl and All of the Animals Loved Her: Race, the Disney Princesses, and their Animal Friends.” Gender Forum, vol. 55, 2015, pp. 39-54.

Davis, Karen. “Afterword: From Animal Oppression to Animal Liberation: A Historical Reflection and the Growth of Critical Animal Studies.” Counterpoints, vol. 448, Defining Critical Animal Studies: An Intersectional Social Justice Approach for Liberation, 2014, pp. 221-227. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/42982385.

Grzęda, Paulina. “Magical Realism: A Narrative of Celebration or Disillusionment? South African Literature in the Transition Period.” Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, vol. 44 no. 1, 2013, pp. 153–183.

Horn, Anette and Peter Horn. “Female Genealogies in Andreʹ Brink’s Imaginings of Sand”. Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, vol. 42. no. 1, 2005. pp. 104-116.

Joseph-Vilain, Mélanie. “Magic Realism in Two Post-Apartheid Novels by André Brink.” Commonwealth Essays and Studies, vol. 25. No. 2, 2003. Pp. 17-31. http://journals.openedition.org/ces/11795.

Kloo, Julie O’Neill. The Architecture of the Great House in the Contemporary Postcolonial Novel, 2009. Duquesne U, PhD dissertation.

Roy, Sohinee. Beyond Protest: Ethics of Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South African White Writing, 2011. West Virginia U, PhD dissertation.

Schwalm, Tanja. Animal Writing: Magical Realism and the Posthuman Other, 2009. U of Canterbury, PhD thesis.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69627/NOL2024VOL1ISS2-03

Pallabi Konwar

Assistant Professor,

Department of English, Pandu College

E-mail: pallabi.konwar7@gmail.com