This title is not available in English
An Afrikaner's view of London's colours
Trips: ’n Roman
Manie de Waal
Human & Rousseau, Cape Town
2003
140 pages
Reviewed by Richard Hoogstad and Luzette Strauss
It must be the bane of every school pupil’s life – that time during the learning of a language when you have to write an essay on "My Holiday", or "My Vakansie", as South African children who learnt Afrikaans would have faced. While it was a bane for most, it was obviously something Manie de Waal relished: so much so that he decided to take the process one step further and turn his traveling reminiscences into a novel.
And just as it must be the bane of every school teacher to have to wade through a hundred mediocre essays on visits to friends and a trip to the pub, so we must be on a trip to really appreciate what Trips (a novel) has to offer.
Chris Retief, the main character, lands in London after a holiday in Bali. He meets up with some South African friends and most of them share a house. The usual shock at the difference between living in England and South Africa is often mentioned:
Ek het nie verwag in Londen gaan dit so erg wees nie. Vergeet tand-, oor- of maagpyn. Gaan vir hartpyn. Beste is, jy kan dit net vir jouself hou. Tref elke keer die kol. Da namba one."
I didn’t expect it to be so bad in London. Forget tooth, ear or stomach ache. Try heartache. The best is
, you can only keep it to yourself. Hits the target every time. The numba one.
"The Pommies are worse than kaffirs, you must see them on a building site, you can't work with those things"
And:
Ysige nat koue toe ek die lendelam skuifdeur ooptrek, met net jeans en ’n T-hemp aan ook geen wonder nie. Die ‘agterplaas’ is ’n lappie gras, so vyf by vyf meter. Lang nat gras, seker ’n paar maande laas gesny. Verkeer van ’n deurpad dreun verby. Die baksteenkleurige huis wat anderkant die muur uitsteek, is net so oud en arm en klein soos ons s’n. Almal sê Europese huise is anders as in Suid-Afrika. Tog, dis vuil hier. Stoom trek uit die grond toe ek my gulp optrek. Die skuifdeur trek moeilik toe.
Cold, icy weather when I open the rickety sliding door, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt. The backyard is a small patch of grass, about five by five metres. Long, wet grass, probably cut a few months ago. Traffic noises whine along. The brick-coloured house that sticks out on the other side of the fence is as old and poor and small as ours. Everyone says European houses are different to South African houses. Still, it is dirty here. Steam rises from the ground as I zip up my trousers. The sliding door closes with difficulty.
There is a hint that something mysterious happened in Bali – Chris spends nights vomiting, and when his girlfriend confronts him he does not divulge anything.
Chris eventually finds a decent, well paid job after working for a while at a pub. He meets up with some Australians and becomes friends with the pub manager. His life, like many young people visiting London, consists of getting drunk with his friends, taking drugs and talking about life in South Africa – especially what life should be like. There are hints at the “good old days” before the death of apartheid, racist undertones feature prominently in the form of Mossie, a friend of Chris. There is also unanimous agreement that the post-apartheid South Africa is better – this is stated almost as an afterthought.
When Aimee walks into the pub frequented by the characters the following conversation takes place.
“Jy se jy sal nie deur die kleurgrens breek nie, Mossie?
“”Wat, meid naai?Ek naai eerder myself.”
"You say you won’t break through the colourline, Mossie?”
“What, fuck a maid? I’d rather fuck myself.”
And racism that was the trademark of South Africa, rears its head:
"Die Pommies is slegter as kaffers, jy moet hulle op ’n bou-site sien, jy kan nie met die goed werk nie."
"The Pommies are worse than kaffirs, you must see them on a building site, you can't work with those things."
Perhaps the attempt to lighten the racist overtones comes in the shape of Chris who falls in love with a woman “oorkant die kleurlyn” (across the colourline. Aimee, the woman who entered the pub, is of “mixed race”.
In general the novel perpetuates the stereotype of Afrikaners as unchanging racist dinosaurs. There is no indication that there is any enrichment within any of the characters. The variety that London can offer any traveller is never mentioned. No-one ever challenges Mossie’s racism.
Chris eventually confesses to Priester a do-gooder about something which had happened in Bali. Priester seems to be the only compassionate, unselfish character in the novel. He is assisted by Mossie, Chris and others in the novel to help those who are “less fortunate” on a few occasions.
Any attempt at an underlying plot or subtle innuendo one hopes to find in the novel falls flat. This novel is simply about a group of South Africans taking drugs, drinking and earning pounds while living in London.
The narrow-minded mentality of the characters is shown in their attitude that, although they are living in England, and missing South Africa, they make no attempt at finding what London has to offer. The irony is that they criticise the greyness, the weather and the houses, but are unable to delve into the colourful cosmopolitan culture at their doorstep.
They do not change their thought processes, their dogmatic, inflexible attitude towards what life should be like and this existence is all about their rights, their way of thinking, their Afrikanerdom.
Chris seemingly becomes a “more responsible citizen” after his youthful abandonment to drugs and drinking. He saves money to buy a house in South Africa. He stays at his job in London when Aimee leaves and although she begs him to follow her, he remains. This is as far as the maturity goes – it is based mainly on selfish motives.
Mossie states that Africa is in one’s blood and he would eventually return. However, one is tempted to say that Africa does not need or want the likes of him.
For the most part this is a book that made me cringe with embarrassment and sadness. Yes, Chris is an example of what many young people do when they travel. Somehow one expects a revelation of joy or shock or delight by the characters, or perhaps an elimination or slow deterioration or an attack on the sexist and racist overtones. The characters’ outlook on life has not changed, they return to South Africa or go their separate ways with the same mindset as when they arrived in England.
A few superficial debates about Afrikaans and who Afrikaners are, are sown in between the various characters’ conversations. One argument was that anyone who spoke Afrikaans was a "boer", which was countered with the argument that a coloured person and a white person might both speak the same language but not necessarily share the same culture. Mention was made of how proud English South Africans in London are of the little Afrikaans that they can speak. The disregard for the other nine official languages again shows the ignorance. The brainwashing of the white South African rears its ugly head time and again. The sheer ignorance and the arrogance of this type of “people” is what this novel is all about.
Richard Hoogstad is a South African journalist living in London. Luzette Strauss works for the African Review of Books.
