Moments of Transition: Diane Victor’s Disasters of Peace Etches and Eben Venter and S. J. Naudé’s Narrative Texts

Abstract

Barely twenty years into the new democracy, post-Apartheid South Africa can still be described as a country of extremes that is subject to continuous transition, and as a society characterized by the tensions inherent in a multifarious and fragmented community. Texts which chart South Africa’s socio-political landscape, but are simultaneously a transgression to the private life, and presented as exemplars in this article, are Eben Venter’s novel Horrelpoot (2006) (‘Trencherman’), Diane Victor’s etch series ‘Disasters of peace’ (2002 and an ongoing project), and S. J. Naudé’s short story collection Alfabet van die voëls (2011) (‘Alphabet of the birds’). Diane Victor’s series of etches are each based on true events and are, therefore, the frame through which I view the fictional literary texts. In Horrelpoot, Venter undertakes a journey to the dark heart of Africa and a direct confrontation with fear takes place in the novel. Naudé’s stories are imbedded in the current socio-political problems of a society that is in the process of transforming itself.