Quotes for Friday from Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book of Not

I couldn't mark enough passages, paragraphs and or sentences from this book; there are a lot of interesting lines though. The following were the few I was able to mark or the few that spoke to me when I had my pencil with me.

So I went on planning my life while life was planning an insurgence. [27]

Or was it merely the fury of a vicious spirit at those enduring containments that define different beauties which made some people tear off other people's extremities? [97]

Could anyone bear a brother or sister going off and killing people because they looked like this and not like that, singing all sorts of hideous songs about smashing in their heads! [97]

'Order,' ... 'belongs to a lower class of mind. In fact, a lack of randomness denotes an abysmal spirit.' [133]

The perpetual rage was unbearable for me. I considered myself a moral person. In fact, as a moral woman I did not intend to harbour such uncharitable, above all, angry, emotions. To ensure that I did not commit any atrocity upon my landlady, I began to spend, soon after my furious urges surfaced, long hours at the school I did not want to teach at, in order to lessen the time spent in my landlady's house. [199/200]

A man with biceps as big as her beauty would without moving a muscle be labelled a bully. [213]

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Read the review here.

111. The Book of Not by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Title: The Book of Not

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Genre: Fiction/Socio-Political

Publisher: Ayebia-Clarke

Pages: 250

Year of First Publication: 2006

Country: Zimbabwe

Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book of Not  is a sequel to Nervous Conditions. It continues Tambu's story as she begins her life at Sacred Heart school, hoping to improve her lot through education. In this sequel, there is a slight change in narrative structure; perhaps to reflect Tambu's growth and education though this also made the reading somewhat tedious, in the beginning and at some places, as it looks very refined, even though the story was written in the first person narrative. But some places are conversational, where the author addresses the reader directly.

If Nervous Conditions is a colonial story or set in a colonial period with less emphasis on political activity and more on the social connections, taboos, and traditions,  The Book of Not is this and more. The more is in its political focus. It is a story that traces the conception, birth, growth and quasi-death of a nation: from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. A conception that is fraught with losses: mental, infrastructural destruction, insane killings, in a country that has lost its touch with humanity and with that ethereal substance that makes us relate and feel and see and believe that what need not be doneto  us must not be done to others by us. This second book opened with the war for independence and Tambu's sister, Netsai, having lost her right leg in an explosion and Babamukuru, Tambu's uncle (her father's brother), having been summoned by the Vana mukoma - elder siblings or the fighers - for being a mutengesi - betrayer because his niece is at an all-white school, irrespective of the fact that his daughter, Nyasha, was not. Babamukuru, the no-nonsense, opinionated man, who sought nothing but extreme or pure excellence and would not even fully follow the imposed curfew, almost lost his life. These incidents marked the beginning of Tambu's life at Sacred Heart. They also served as the reference point in her life, a tributary of sorts. 

Tambu had always thought of education as the key that will liberate her from the kind of 'entrapment' her mother seemed to be under and possibly from that of Maiguru who, in spite of her higher education, was still under the control of Babamukuru. Tambu's friends were her books. She was had no room for amorous thoughts. However, Tambu, whose education became possible only because his brother, Nhamo, died, was haunted by the sounds of war beyond the mountains and the images of Netsai's lost legs and Babamukuru's near death encounter, putting this aggressive friendship under threat of collapse. In Class, her mind would involuntarily drift far and wide, far from what was being taught at the moment and any question would be wrongly answered or even not answered at all. She became a nervous wreck, acting impulsively before feeling contrite afterwards. The effects of the independence struggle, which made the killing of freedom fighters (terrorists) seen as gains and the killing of whites seen as tragedies, widened an already deep racial cracks between the handful of blacks and the white-majority in the school. So deep was this discrimination that black African girls, at assembly, had to be careful not to touch the white girls or even bump into them. With some teachers exhibiting racist tendencies, the small group of black African girls were exuding palpable fear with every call to the Headmistress office akin to a drag towards the guillotine. Tambu became a candidate of mild depression and when she sought therapy through weaving clothes for government fighters, the, hitherto cordial somewhat shaky relationship she enjoyed with her fellow black students, escalated into physical and acrimonious fights and unspoken animosity.   

Lonely, a psychologically wrecked Tambu gave up not on her quest for academic excellence, lest she falls no farther than her mother, in life. The Book of Not though about Tambu's unfulfilled goal in life, is also about her unrecognised and unacknowledged achievements. And it was this non-recognition that was to push Tambu downhill so that as she

... went on planning my life ... life was planning an insurgence. [27]

The first of two major non-recognition was when she lost the award of being the best O'Level student, after getting so many ones, to Tracey, because - according to Sister Emmanuel - Tracey was an all-round student. The loss of something she had worked an entire five-years for, fighting over bouts of depression, isolation, and more to achieve, contributed to her giving up in life. After this a series of bad results followed: A'Level and Bachelors. The second non-recognition led her to resign her position as a scriptwriter in the advertising agency where she worked, even though she had nowhere to go. This was after another colleague was awarded for something she had worked on, which had earned the company several contracts.

This story could be read at several levels. As a book on Zimbabwe's history, the events in Tambu's life have symbolic meanings in the new nation's life. For instance, very symbolic is the gunshot that paralysed Babamukuru on the eve of independence. Does this signify the end of the Babamukuru era, those who worked hard to earn themselves positions, albeit low, during colonialism and the rise of  the noveau-riche, those who fought not, not the Netsais who lost their legs  instead of gaining freedom, but those who took advantage of the vacuum created by the departing white population? This is symbolic, in that the rise of the parvenu is always followed by putrefaction: moral and economic.

Babamukuru had been struck by a stray bullet that ricocheted off a flag post during the twenty-one gun salute while they lowered the Union Jack and raised the Zimbabwean flag at the Independence celebrations. The bullet lodged in his spinal cord. When he was not supine in bed, he sat in a wheelchair, which rendered him yet more full of umbrage and more cantankerous than usual. So to the scars of war were added the complications of Independence. Neither he nor any of any of my family came to campus to celebrate my graduation" [198]

Some of the white Rhodesians, afraid of falling standards that succeed independence, left the country. And it is these falling standards, in education, that allowed Tambu to earn a university education, after several odd jobs. Tambu, at several points began to question the deaths that led to independence, something that is now common in post-colonial African literature. Most see it as senseless. Most associate the attainment of independence to other causes and other than the struggle per se. And even though Tambu was not blind to the racism and discrimination at that point in time she also thought so.

I emerged from my studies to a new dispensation. I could never, after all the years at Sacred Heart and Fridays in the town hall, bring myself to believe Rhodesians had died; definitely they had not done so in sufficient quantities to cause a great blimp in the course of history.  .... Convinced it was not the deaths of Rhodesians that had caused Mr Mugabe and Mr Smith to talk to each other with some degree of sincerity, I assured myself happily that the phenomenon was due to a bigger and better motive on both sides: a desire to desist away from chopping away lips, ears, noses, and genitals from the bodies of people's relatives by the elder siblings; a desire to develop a larger, kinder heart on the part of Europeans. [198]

Is it easier to trivialise the fight for independence after it has been won? This is a question that could only be answered on an individual level. Tambu lost what she wanted to be: an independent and educated woman at the core of the new nation contributing positively and in a big to life, nothing like her stereotypical mother who thinks a woman's place in this world is the husbands house (or specifically, kitchen). She almost became the exact economic replica of her at independence. And this is partly due to the negative aura or energy that filled her mind making her think that she deserved nothing good in life. She practically lost her will to fight, her ambition. And all emanated from the emotional neglect she suffered.

With Zimbabwe's history - or struggle against independence - as the background, this story provides a crush course on Zimbabwe from the perspective of one whose vision was crashed as a result. It is worth the read except that the story would not have a normal distribution if one superimposes the events and timelines on such a distribution. For instance, whereas Dangarembga showed enough of what Tambu went through during her O'Level days, though the last three years was rushed, we hardly ever got to feel enough of her A'Level days. However, this does not take anything from the story. And even though it is a sequel and one's understanding is enhanced if one has read Nervous Conditions, I think one could also read this as a stand alone book. 

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For Author's Bio Click Here.

ImageNations Rating: 4.5/6.0

63. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, A Review

Title: Nervous Conditions

Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Genre: Fiction/Novel/Coming-of-Age

Publishers: Ayebia Clarke

Pages: 208

Year of Publication: 1988; (this edition, 2004)

Country: Zimbabwe

For the Africa Reading Challenge and Top 100 Books

Set in a period when women were hardly considered for education because they would soon be married off and therefore be lost to the household from whose meagre financial resources she was educated, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, tells the story of young Tambudzai - or Tambu as she was known - as she challenges her archetypal family which threatens to consider her as an ordinary member of the homogeneous group of women. However, Tambu's resolve to seek education was so strong that she was not sorry when her brother - Nhamo - died. In the first sentence of the first chapter she says

I was not sorry when my brother died. (Page 1)

This sentence would cause jaws to drop and sensitive people to ask why? However, written in the first person singular narrative and directed at the reader, Tambu tells the events that led to the death and which led her to realise her dreams of being educated and for which she was offering no apologies. The story is not all about the death of Nhamo but about

my escape and Lucia's; about my mother's and Maiguru's entrapment and about Nyasha's rebellion (Page 1).

Knowing that all the individuals mentioned in the above sentence are women, one soon realises that the story is about the female independence or freedom in a patriarchal society. The book does highlight the gender inequality that existed within the society and how it affected women. It is not a book dedicated to the fight against tradition or an Africa versus the West book, it is a book that addresses common sense issues such as education for all, respect for all, and soliciting each other's views in decision-making. It is a book that seeks to equalise humanity irrespective of the gender of the person.

As a young girl Tambu relished to be in school but was prevented from doing so by her father, because he was poor and also because the only son in the household, Tambu's brother - Nhamo - was in school and all financial resources have been allocated towards his education. However, we realise that Jeremiah's - Tambu's father - decision not to educate his daughter does not arise only from poverty but also from the fear that men had for educated women and also from the stratum men and society had placed women. For when Tambu argued with his father concerning her education, his father asked:

Can you cook book and feed them to your husband? (Page 15)

Thus, the traditional duty of a woman to be his husband's keeper and the bearer of his children were being drummed into her at that early stage. As non-conformist as Tambu was and as one who would not accept a decision without challenging it, she asked her mother whether Babamukuru's - their uncle who had taken Nhamo to school at the missions where he is the headmaster - wife (Maiguru) who is educated cooked books for their uncle:

This time, though, I had evidence. Maiguru was educated, and did she serve Babamukuru books for dinner? I discovered to my unhappy relief that my father was not sensible. 

I complained to my mother. 'Baba says I do not need to be educated,' I told her scornfully. 'He says I must learn to be a good wife. Look at Maiguru,' I continued, ... 'she is a better wife than you' (Page 16)

Tambu's quest for education was perhaps borne out of Maiguru's demeanour, which at that point she didn't know it was a facade, and also of Nhamo's reaction to village life whenever he comes on holidays. Nhamo was alienating himself from his sisters and his family; he saw the village as below him and Tambu also wanted to be out of that place, to be like Maiguru. However, when she could no more convince her parents, she decided to grow maize and use the proceeds to pay her fees. Yet, it wasn't until the death of her brother that the family decided to educate her.

In this novel, Tambu tells of how all the women in the story are in one way or the other trapped, including even the seemingly enviable Maiguru, whose level education was at par with her husband's. Maiguru was trapped by marriage and society. With all her education her husband hardly solicits her opinion in matters of familial decision. Consequently, she was unhappy, complains a lot, and lives under the shadow of her husband. And she had to give up a lot in her personal development just to make society happy. She tells of how everybody thought when she travelled with her husband to the United Kingdom, she merely went there to 'look after' him while he studied. No one knows the level of her education and she prefers to keep it that way. Lucia is trapped by poverty and bareness and because of these her family members consider her a witch. However, Lucia is strong-willed and hardworking. Ma'Shingayi - Tambu's mother - was herself trapped by poverty, neglect and illiteracy. Due to these she and her husband lived under the shadows of the more educated Babamukuru, doing things she would personally not have done but had to because Babamukuru had said so. Ma'Shingayi was so broken that when an opinion was asked of her, she jumped into a long tirade, pouring out all that had worked to weaken her psychologically, emotionally and physically in a series of rhetorical questions:

Since for most of her life my mother's mind, belonging first to her father and then to her husband, had not been hers to make up, she was finding it difficult to come to a decision. 

'Lucia' ... 'why do you keep bothering me with this question? Does it matter what I want? Since when has it mattered what I want? So why should it start mattering now? Do you think I wanted to be impregnated by that old dog? Do you think I wanted to travel all this way across this country of our forefathers only to live like dirt and poverty? Do you really think I wanted the child for whom I made the journey to die only five years after leaving the womb? Or my son to be taken from me? So what difference doe it make whether I have a wedding or whether I go? It is all the same. What I have endured for nineteen year I can endure for another nineteen, and nineteen more if need be. (Page 155)

And the last of the women is Nyasha - Babamukuru's daughter. Nyasha is trapped between cultures. Having spent a larger portion her formative years in England and having acquired certain behaviours that are contradictory to the expectations of traditional society, Nyasha was caught in a web-like entanglement with nowhere to go than to push forward or rebel. She shouts at her father, argues and challenges his authority. And in one of such altercations she hits him after he had done so.

In one way or the other all these women - save Ma'Shingayi - rebelled against Babamukuru's authority and societal expectations. Some ended well, such as Maiguru whose opinions began to be solicited in decisions, Lucia who got a job and Tambu herself who was being educated. However, it did not end well for Nyasha who found it difficult merging these two cultures, and so broke down.

Whereas the women were seemingly trapped, the men in the story were either weak and poor such as Takesure and Jeremiah, wealthy and opinionated such as Babamukuru, or ambivalent such as Chido - Nyasha's brother. This is a book of complex emotions and reactions. For relationships that look fresh and thriving on the surface are actually stale and dead on the inside.

To sum it up, I went through a roller coaster of emotions. I got bored at certain points, insane at others, virtually threw the book away, asked deep questions at others, conflicted my initial emotions at more places, and finally fell in love with the book. For instance, as much as I didn't like Babamukuru 'blowing' his daughter I was shocked of the daughter's reply; I was shocked of Tambu's refusal to attend his parents' wedding because it shamed her (I attended my parents marriage when I was about twelve); I wanted to tell Maiguru to stand up to Babamukuru, but Babamukuru was not a monster. He was actually a family man providing for his extended family, showing care as is expected of him. He only was reacting to 'what people might say'. I wanted to tell Nyasha that there are cultural differences because it is always bad to have altercations with your parents or any adult. I wanted Babamukuru to sit down with his daughter and talk to her and to listen to her opinions too. I wanted Maiguru to stop covering up issues. And these are the issues Tsitsi Dangarembga wanted to bring out. Had I reviewed this book just after reading, I would have reacted badly to it. But now, after days of digestion, I know what Tsitsi was about.

This is a typical coming of age story, though I believe things are turning around for many women. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it unreservedly to all readers. And remember there is a sequel to this The Book of Not which I would be reviewing soon, but not next.

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Tsitsi Dangarembga

Brief Bio: In 1959, Tsitsi Dangarembga was born in what was formerly referred to as Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, in the town of Mutoko. Although born in Africa she spent her childhood , ages two through six, in Britain. She began her education in a British school but concluded her early education, her A-levels, in a missionary school in the City of Mutare. Later, she went back to Britain to attend Cambridge University where she pursued a course of study in medicine.

Back home, she began a course of study at the University of Harare in psychology. During her studies, Dangarembga held a job at a marketing agency as a copywriter for two years and was a member of the drama group affiliated with the university. In 1983 she directed and wrote a play entitled "The Lost of the Soil". She then became an active member of a theater group called, Zambuko. While involved in this groups she participated in the production of two plays, "Katshaa!" and "Mavambo".

In 1985, she published a short story in Sweden entitled "The Letter" and in 1987, she published a play in Harare entitled "She No Longer Weeps". Her real success came at age twenty five with the publication of her novel Nervous Conditions. This novel was the first novel to be published in English by a black Zimbabwean woman. In 1989, it won her the African section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Prior to this award she had won a second prize in the Swedish aid-organization, SIDA, short story competition. After Nervous Conditions was published in Denmark, she made a trip there in 1991 to be part of the Images-of-Africa festival. Dangaremba continued her education in Berlin at the Deutsche Film und Fernseh Akademie where she studied film direction. While in school she made many film productions, including a documentary for German television. She then made the film entitled "Everyone's Child", her most recent credit. It has been shown worldwide at various festivals including the Dublin Film Festival. (Source)

ImageNations Rating: 6.0 out of 6.0

The Zimbabwe I Know

Since the day Chinua Achebe published is classic novel, Things Fall Apart, African literature has enjoyed a stupendous growth that had our economies progressed along such trajectory, even at an infinitesimal level, we sure would be amongst the world's 'haves' and not amongst the 'have nots' as we currently find ourselves. Chimamanda Adichie has professed of the inspiration she got from this book and that it was this book that made her know that people with skin colour like hers can also be in books. 

In recent times news about and/or form Zimbabwe have always been political with some humanitarian  tragedy or human rights abuse twist to it. It is difficult to hear these media talking about the the greatness of this nation of stones, about the talents that abound in the country. And whilst these media giants are eagerly propagating the negatives, because that is where the news is juicy, we also follow their trail and talk negatively about it. About the human rights abuses (though G. Bush has the worst human right record), about the dictatorial regime that has become Zimbabwe, (though in the US every call can and is eavesdropped according to the PATRIOTS ACT), about every negative that we hear or is told us. 

We also hardly talk about our positives. Yet, there are many young and talented writers in that country. Many who should command our respect. My interest to promote African Literature has brought to my notice many of such writers and these individuals take their work serious. I am not here to talk about all the Zimbabwean writers I have met on this blogosphere but to bring to your notice one particular Zimbabwean writer whose work marvelled many.

Tsitsi Dangaremba

Some years ago the Zimbabwean Literary Foundation (ZLF) came out with their list of Africa's 100 best novels of the 20th century and amongst them was Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions (released in 1988). This novel made waves and was well received. However, Miss Dangarembga never added to this well received novel until in 2006 when she published The Book of Not as a sequel to the Nervous Condition.

The Book of Not as a sequel to Nervous Conditions traces 'Tambu's continuing quest to redefine the personal, political and historical forces that threaten to destroy the fabric of her community--and reveals how its aftermath still bedevils Africans today. Dangaremba's language sparkles and dances on the page as she delves into the education system, the liberation struggle and attitudes of contemporary Zimbabwean in an incisive and insightful examination of a system calculated to destabilize the sense of self. Read the rest here...'