|
Rosa's District 6
is a collection of five short stories set in Cape Town in 1970. At
this point South Africans had experienced more than two decades of
Apartheid; many of their political leaders (including Mandela) were
imprisoned on Robben Island (visible from Cape Town); and student
activism was emerging (under Steve Biko). Rozena Maart was born and
raised in District Six, a "Coloured" suburb of Cape Town. When she
emigrated in 1989, Maart brought this history with her to Canada.
While her stories are rooted in South Africa and reflect a
post-Apartheid concern with questions of gender and sexuality, they
also subtly explore the problematic of Canadian identity.
Rosa, a precocious eight-year old, serves as the fulcrum throughout
the stories. She is not constantly present, but appears at crucial
moments: to witness a passionate encounter between women in "No
Rosa, No District Six," to inform the sisters in "The Green Chair"
that their mother communes with their dead brother, and to observe
with a writer's eye the homophobic and hypocritical Carolyn at the
end of "The Bracelet." Rosa records the lives of the district's
inhabitants in a notebook on a string she carries around her neck.
The stories are engaging, particularly when events unfold through
Rosa's perspective; contrary to the titles promise, however, these
moments are rare.
The opening story in the collection, "No Rosa, No District Six," won
the Journey Prize for Best Short Fiction when it was first published
in 1992. It charts a young girl's encounter with the complexities of
female identity and sexuality. While Rosa's voice opens the story, a
more educated narrative voice quickly takes over and attempts to
record her observations. After deciding to skip school, Rosa hides
under Auntie Flowers' bed. While there, she witnesses Flowers and
Hood make love in a tin tub and comments (unrealistically for a
child) on their sagging breasts' "resistance to White-settler
colonial culture." Homosexuality is central in the last story in the
collection, "The Bracelet," about a young married couple living on
the outskirts of District Six and passing as white. Nathaniel admits
that he is gay, an admission that raises a number of connected
issues around class and race, as well as the ire of his wife,
Carolyn, a "progressive" English teacher. For Rosa, the ambitious
and hypocritical Carolyn is the antithesis of Flowers and Hood.
Maart's book, with its extensive glossary, is a welcome, if
occasionally flawed, contribution to the recent interest in
sexuality in South African writing. Although not set in Canada, it
was produced and published here and therefore raises questions about
the range of Canadian literature. The stories belong to a rich
Canadian tradition of immigrant writing, in which writers (think of
Rohinton Mistry, Dionne Brand, and Yvonne Vera) try to make sense of
their past in a new place. In this respect, Maart engages the reader
with her vivid descriptions of the landscape, people, politics, and
even the food of her past.
—
Julie Cairnie
|
