Hotbeds: Black-White Love in Novels from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hotbeds: Black-White Love in Novels from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean Katrin Berndt Hotbeds: Black-White Love in Novels from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean By Pia ThielmannZomba: Kachere Series, 2004. 384 pp. Pb £ 18.31. ISBN 99908-76-23-1. The "hot" issue of interracial love in novels by US-American, African, and Caribbean authors is the focus of discussion of Pia Thielmann's study. Thielmann applies a utilitarian approach to literature:she proceeds from the assumption that tangible parallels exist between tendencies in fiction and tendencies in "real life." As a consequence, she regards the selected novels as an "art for life's sake," which is expected to explain why even some seemingly progressive novels [as literary representations of contemporary cultures] are still steeped in racial stereotypes. The interdisciplinary approach is complemented by an intercontinental reading of literature from regions once connected in the so-called slave triangle, thus pointing towards the power relations that still inform relationships between partners of different races. Thielmann distinguishes between the authors according to their region of descent; their gender; and their race. Each part is introduced by a section on the historical and cultural background of the region in question, thus again positioning the discussion within the broader cultural discourse on interracial love. Thielmann's theoretical basis incorporates approaches of scholars such as Patricia McFadden, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, and bell hooks. Especially Ngugi's objective to "decolonize the mind," which requires turning away from the Hegelian dichotomy of the Self/Other, conceives artists as "part[s] of the image-making process. They draw the pictures of the world" (25). "Pictures" of interracial love in novels by black American men are very much affected by the history of the legal treatment of such relationships; as a result, they are utilized as a platform for antiracist ideas and political discussions. In contrast, novels by black American women usually highlight the couple's personal impact on society rather than the effect of a history of unequal power relations on interracial love. A collective memory of (the permanent threat of) rape, however, requires a certain courage in envisioning a love relationship between a white man and a black woman. The state of the body, as exemplified in Alice Walker's novels, represents the state of mind of the characters. The suffering or deformation of the black female body is related to the need "for the development of a sense of self-worth hindered by racist white society" (95). [End Page 157] The writing of black African women includes abstract political ideologies only insofar as they directly affect the lives of their characters. Senegalese author Mariama Bâ's novel Scarlet Song even denounces men's use of nationalist ideals as a way of profiting from "double patriarchy." Bâ here attends to the interests of a white woman married to an African man, thus being "one of the few authors whose protagonists do not mirror their own race and gender perspective" (221). The white African male authors André Brink and Alan Paton tackle the issue of interracial love against the background of the policy of Apartheid, while white African women writers Nadine Gordimer and Daphne Rooke also write within the Apartheid framework, but deal specifically with the physical and psychological impact of racial segregation. The representation of interracial love by African authors irrespective of their racial and gender perspective is often informed by political pressures and thus overshadowed and endangered by external powers. The Caribbean setting provides a background in which racial identity is less stringent than in the US-American and African contexts. In the selected novels, problems are often class-related rather than race related, since "class hierarchy [. . .] can be observed as paralleling shades of skin colour" (267). The carnival is introduced as a metaphor for the ultimate liminal space, where life and sexuality are celebrated, and where both social rebellion and solidarity can be expressed. Carried by the rhythm of Calypso music, the challenge of social and political reality is voiced through light-hearted irony and sexually explicit language. Thielmann's thoroughly researched study offers both an extensive enumeration of US-American, Caribbean, and African texts...